The Bitcoin network mining sector experienced the first difficulty adjustment of 2026. This adjustment was observed after the sector announced a slight ease of mining difficulty to a record of 146.4 trillion on Thursday, January 8.
During this incident, CoinWarz, a long-standing crypto platform (since 2013) offering essential tools for miners, shared its prediction, urging miners to expect the next adjustment to take place on January 22, 2026, at 04:08:12 AM UTC. However, different from the recent adjustment, this forecasted one is anticipated to raise Bitcoin mining difficulty from a record of 146.47 trillion to 148.20 trillion.
Bitcoin mining difficulty slows after 2025 jump
In attempts to explain the rise, analysts conducted research and discovered that the average block times were recorded at 9.88 minutes, slightly below the set target of 10 minutes. With this finding, they asserted that the next adjustment could lead to a surge in difficulty, aligning more closely with the target time.
Reports in 2025 showed that the Bitcoin mining difficulty skyrocketed to new all-time highs, with a slight increase experienced in the last adjustment of that year. Interestingly, even after this increase was recognized, sources claimed that the difficulty record remained below November’s peak of 155.9 trillion.
At this particular moment, analysts have admitted that Bitcoin miners face significant hardship in generating profits, as margins have greatly shrunk due to the halving event that occurred in April 2024. If block rewards were reduced by half, several key economic factors would be affected.
Later, miners and mining firms reported facing increased pressure from the crypto market decline that began in November. This stress arose when miner hash price drastically decreased below the expected level essential to break even. This price illustrated the anticipated yields for each computing power unit utilized to mine blocks effectively.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the miner hash price is the expected daily revenue generated per unit of computational power (hashrate), usually measured in dollars per terahash per second per day ($/TH/s/day). Considering the increased uncertainties in the Bitcoin mining sector, miners are considering whether to continue with their operations or halt them.
The post Bitcoin mining difficulty plunges in first 2026 adjustment first appeared on Coinfea.
