15 October 2026
Bitcoin’s Hash Rate Doubles as Market Recovers
The bad days have finally ended for the Bitcoin Network, as its hash rate has doubled, since June, compared to other metrics recovering from their 2021 lows.
China’s abrupt crackdown on bitcoin mining operations had caused several disruptions on the BTC network as miners had to shut down machines and emigrate out of the region to continue their business. In addition, the nationwide ban on mining had shown adverse effects. With more than 50% of BTC miners residing in China at the time, the BTC hash rate declined by more than 60% to a one-year low in June. However, about two months later, the situation has changed, and the hash rate has increased by about 100%.
The computing power (hash rate) is a critical security metric on the bitcoin blockchain. Increasing hash rate means greater security; hence the network is more resilient to attacks and vice versa. Bitcoin protocol adjusts itself to be harder or easier every 2,016 blocks depending on the number of miners and computing power on the blockchain at the time of the adjustment.
At the peak of the Chinese crackdown, the bitcoin network experienced its slowest block production in history, and miners lost a significant portion of their earnings. During this period only, 58 new bitcoin blocks were mined instead of the baseline of 144. In addition, the miner’s revenue fell from an all-time high of $70 million in May to $13 million in June, which was more than an 80% drop in a month.
However, now the mining sectors have started recovering from the Chinese crackdown as numerous miners have migrated to regions like Europe and the United States to resume their operations. Thus, they have reduced China’s dominance in the field and made the Bitcoin Network more decentralized.
To date, the hash rate has doubled; data from Bitinfocharts shows that the computing power on the network has returned to above 130 GH/s, a 100% increase from its lowest levels of approximately 67 GH/s that was recorded two months ago.
Other key metrics on the BTC blockchain, like miners’ revenue and difficulty, are also recovering from declining. Earlier this month, miners’ revenue per hash has returned to 8.8 BTC/EH after dropping from 9.5 BTC/EH to a 2021 low of 5.6 BTC/EH. Likewise, the mining difficulty, which dropped to a multi-year low beneath 14T in late July, is now up to 17.6T after three consecutive adjustments.
Disclaimer: The author’s views and opinions are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
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