Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped by 10.09% on Sunday, marking the blockchain’s 11th-largest downward adjustment and easing some of the pressure on miners.
Galaxy Research said that mining difficulty fell from 138.96 trillion to 124.93 trillion at block 953,568 on Sunday, the second biggest drop of 2026 and a 20% decrease from its peak in November.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen by around 15% so far in June, which has “squeezed miner margins,” Galaxy said. It added that the epoch, the time between when mining difficulty is adjusted, ran for 15.6 days, above the typical 14 days, as hashrate came offline.
Mining difficulty keeps block production stable even as the amount of mining power on the network changes. The drop means that Bitcoin miners will have an easier time mining blocks, as the falling hashrate means less competition.
Historical Bitcoin difficulty declines, with the drop on Sunday highlighted in orange. Source: Galaxy Research
Total hash rate, or the amount of mining computing power, is currently 886 exahashes per second (EH/s). It has fallen 12% so far this month and is down 23% from its peak in October, according to Blockchain.com.
The remaining miners now earn around 9% more per machine, according to crypto trader Merlijn Enkelaar.
Related: Bitcoin falls further as BTC miners pivot to AI, pro-crypto legislation stalls
Bitcoin mining difficulty fell more than 11% in February due to storm curtailments and a 25% BTC price crash. The highest ever difficulty drop was in July 2021, after China’s ban on mining and a following exodus.
The next difficulty adjustment is expected on June 27, with Coinwarz predicting a slight 1.69% increase to around 127 trillion.
Hashprice returns to above $30
Hashprice, which quantifies how much a miner can expect to earn from a specific quantity of hashrate, has increased 13% as a result of the difficulty dip and is currently $33 per Petahash per second per day, according to Hashrate Index.
It is an important threshold as it pushes more miners to a gross breakeven point, The Energy Mag reported on Saturday.
It reported that efficient fleets of miners will continue to generate profit at a lower hashprice, while older-generation machines that have higher electricity costs are likely to be turned off.
Magazine: OpenAI files for IPO, SEC scraps 611 rule and Hungary overhauls crypto: Hodlers Digest