On February 19, 2026, the Bitcoin network recorded a massive mining difficulty increase of 14.73%, bringing the difficulty to 144.4 trillion. This adjustment is the largest absolute increase in Bitcoin's history and the biggest percentage jump since the 2021 China mining ban.
The spike was a mechanical "snapback" following a severe 11.16% downward adjustment on February 9, 2026. That earlier drop was caused by Winter Storm Fern, which knocked approximately 200 EH/s of computing power offline in late January as major US miners like Foundry USA and MARA Holdings curtailed operations to stabilize local power grids. As these miners reconnected following the storm, the hashrate surged back toward 1 Zettahash per second (ZH/s), triggering the record upward correction to maintain the 10-minute block target.
Current Network Status (February 2026)
Current Difficulty: 144.4 Trillion (as of Feb 20, 2026).
Network Hashrate: Recovered to approximately 1 ZH/s from a storm-induced low of 826 EH/s.
Miner Profitability: Under significant pressure; the hashprice sits at multi-year lows of roughly $23.9/PH/s/day.
Production Cost: The estimated average cost to produce one BTC is between $77,000 and $87,000, while the market price sits approximately 12-20% below this range at roughly $68,000.
Impact on the Mining Industry
Margin Squeeze: Most operators are currently mining at a loss. Only the most efficient miners with the latest hardware (e.g., Antminer S23 series) and power costs below $0.05/kWh remain profitable.
AI Pivot: Due to poor mining economics, several public miners are reallocating capacity to AI and high-performance computing. Bitfarms recently rebranded to remove "Bitcoin" from its name, and Riot Platforms is facing investor pressure to expand into AI data centers.
Market Sentiment: Analysts view the "hash ribbon" signal as having fired, indicating a miner capitulation phase. Historically, such phases have preceded price bottoms by 2 to 4 months.
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