Bitcoin's mining difficulty dropped 9.13% early Saturday, its biggest reduction since June. The cut came after blocks slowed to roughly 11 minutes and gives miners still operating a boost in expected revenue. Bitcoin's price slide limits that relief.
Bitcoin's mining difficulty dropped 9.13% early Saturday, the biggest reduction since June. Miners still operating get a boost in expected revenue after blocks slowed to roughly 11 minutes.
The adjustment took effect at block 975744, timestamped 12:02 a.m. ET on Nov. 14. It lowered difficulty to 134.82 trillion from 148.36 trillion. Difficulty sets how much computing work miners must perform, on average, to find a valid block.
What the cut means for miners
Holding Bitcoin's price, the block subsidy and average transaction fees per block constant, The Defiant calculates that the cut raises expected gross revenue per unit of computing power by about 10%. That gives miners more room to cover electricity expenses, rather than guaranteeing a return to profitability.
Blocks averaged about 11 minutes and one second during the completed difficulty period. Bitcoin recalculates difficulty every 2,016 blocks to keep production near a 10-minute average. Slower production reduces the work required to earn a block reward.
Computing power retreats
The Defiant's analysis of Mempool's daily estimates puts the seven-day average hashrate at about 930 exahashes per second for Nov. 7–13 UTC, down 10.3% from about 1,036 in the preceding seven days. These estimates are inferred from block production, not a census of machines switched off. They do not identify which operators stopped mining or establish why.
The cut was the third-largest of 2026. Only February's roughly 11.2% reduction and June's 10.1% decline were larger.
The retreat coincided with falling Bitcoin prices. CoinGecko data put Bitcoin near $74,800 at 10 a.m. ET on Nov. 9, and about $67,300 at 1:24 a.m. ET on Nov. 14, after the adjustment.
A lower Bitcoin price reduces the dollar value of mining rewards, which limits the relief from easier mining. The retarget responds to block production that has already happened, and it does not establish that the price sell-off has ended.
Source: The Defiant
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