The Bitcoin network's mining difficulty has decreased to 146.4 trillion, marking the first adjustment of 2026. This change reflects a shift towards achieving average block times, which currently sit at 9.88 minutes, slightly under the targeted 10-minute benchmark.
CoinWarz estimates that the following adjustment will occur on January 22, 2026, at 04:08:12 AM UTC, and will raise the difficulty to 148.20 trillion. In 2025, the Bitcoin mining sector faced significant challenges, including a sharp downturn in market value and reduced profit margins due to the April 2024 halving.
During this period, the miner hash price fell below breakeven levels, reaching below $35 per petahash-second per day, which has led many miners to reconsider their operations. The overall environment for Bitcoin miners was described as the "harshest margin environment" on record, compounded by external economic pressures and a significant 30% drop in BTC prices in November.