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

Bitcoin’s network hashrate has climbed to a seven-month high despite major publicly traded miners shifting capacity toward artificial intelligence, suggesting other operators are replacing lost computing power and intensifying competition among remaining network miners.

According to BlocksBridge Consulting’s latest Miner Weeklynewsletter, Bitcoin’s seven-day average hashrate has recovered above 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s), equivalent to 1,000 exahashes per second (EH/s), its highest level since March 3.

Hashrate measures the computing power securing the Bitcoin network. The recovery suggests that miners still operating on the network are seeing little relief from competition, despite the industry’s ongoing transition to AI workloads. 

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased 5.92% on Oct. 16, with BlocksBridge projecting another 5.16% increase at the next adjustment. If the estimate holds, difficulty will have risen roughly 11.4% across two consecutive adjustments.

“That’s hardly the breathing room remaining miners might have expected from the AI migration,” BlocksBridge wrote, referring to the growing competition facing operators that have continued mining Bitcoin.

The shift toward AI has already taken substantial mining capacity offline. BlocksBridge previously reported a 23% decline in publicly traded miners’ realized hashrate, alongside a 52% quarterly increase in their reported AI and high-performance computing revenue. It estimated that the displaced capacity represented roughly $1.5 billion in mining hardware.

Related: Crypto Biz: AI took a back seat when Bitcoin started climbing

Smaller miners may be picking up the slack

Some of the lost capacity may be returning to the network through smaller and mid-sized miners buying equipment from larger operators. BlocksBridge pointed to Sazmining, which advertises secondhand Antminer S21 XP machines that buyers can deploy through hosting facilities in Paraguay and Texas.

For miners with access to cheaper electricity, buying used machines could be more economical than investing in new equipment. It also means hardware displaced by AI conversions could continue mining Bitcoin elsewhere.

However, it’s unclear how much of the equipment being sold actually comes from publicly traded miners, or how much has returned to the network.

The hashrate recovery comes as some industry observers view rising computing power as an “indirect bullish signal” for Bitcoin, reflecting continued institutional investment in publicly traded mining companies.

CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju recently made that argument on X, writing that “higher hashrate means stronger security and better fundamentals as a store of value.

Related: Bitcoin miners face widening AI financing costs as lenders scrutinize deals