The Bitcoin network completed its regular difficulty adjustment on the evening of February 7th at block height 935,424. Mining difficulty dropped from 141.84 T to 125.86 T, a decrease of 11.16%. This is the largest single adjustment decline since China’s全面禁止加密貨幣挖礦 in May 2021.

According to data, the current total network hash rate is approximately 948 EH/s, down about 14% from the all-time high of 1.1 ZH/s set in October last year. Analysis indicates that the next difficulty adjustment is expected to further decrease, reflecting a significant contraction in the mining industry.

Reasons for the Hash Rate Plunge
Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment mechanism is one of the core elements of its network design. Approximately every two weeks (2,016 blocks), the network automatically adjusts mining difficulty to ensure the average block time remains around 10 minutes. When hash rate declines, difficulty decreases; and vice versa. This self-regulating mechanism ensures the stable operation of the Bitcoin network.