Bitcoin hashrate hits seven-month high as AI shift fails to cool mining competition

Key points

• Seven-day average hashrate back above 1 zettahash per second, the highest since 3 March, per BlocksBridge.
• Difficulty rose 5.92% on 16 Oct, with a further 5.16% increase projected at the next adjustment.

Bitcoin's hashrate has recovered to a seven-month high even as large listed miners redirect capacity to artificial intelligence, Cointelegraph reports, citing BlocksBridge Consulting's Miner Weekly newsletter. The seven-day average hashrate is back above 1 zettahash per second, or 1,000 exahashes per second, the highest level since 3 March.

Competition has not eased for the miners still securing the network. Difficulty rose 5.92% on 16 Oct, and BlocksBridge expects a further 5.16% increase at the next adjustment, which would take the two-step rise to about 11.4%.

The AI pivot has already pulled capacity offline. BlocksBridge previously reported a 23% decline in publicly traded miners' realised hashrate alongside a 52% quarterly increase in their AI and high-performance computing revenue, estimating the displaced capacity at roughly $1.5bn of mining hardware.

Smaller and mid-sized operators may be absorbing some of that equipment. BlocksBridge points to Sazmining, which advertises secondhand Antminer S21 XP machines for deployment through hosting sites in Paraguay and Texas. Cheaper electricity can make used rigs more economical than new ones, though it is unclear how much of the sold hardware came from listed miners or has returned to the network. CryptoQuant's Ki Young Ju has called a higher hashrate an indirect bullish signal for Bitcoin.

What to watch: Bitcoin's next difficulty adjustment, where BlocksBridge projects a further 5.16% increase.

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