Bitcoin Difficulty Jumps 15% After Hashrate Rebound

Bitcoin mining difficulty surged 14.7% to 144.4 trillion at block height 937,440. The adjustment marks the largest absolute increase on record, reflecting a sharp hashrate recovery after widespread U.S. winter storm curtailments.

Data from Mempool shows the roughly 18.5 trillion jump erased the prior epoch’s 11% decline, when severe weather forced operators offline. According to Clark Moody’s dashboard, blocks were produced every 8 minutes and 47 seconds during the latest period, well ahead of the protocol’s 10-minute target. Network hashrate climbed from about 884 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 1,030 EH/s over the same stretch.

Is The Mining Network Normalizing After Storm Disruptions?

The rebound follows an estimated 200 EH/s drop during the winter storm, including a roughly 60% decline in hashrate connected to Foundry USA, the largest mining pool by market share. Block times briefly extended beyond 12 minutes, triggering a downward difficulty adjustment before the latest surge. Mempool developer “Mononaut” noted that the last two adjustments “erased 15.8T from the mining difficulty, and then immediately added 18.5T back on,” adding that it took the network more than 11 years to reach 15 trillion difficulty in total.

Ten31 Managing Partner Marty Bent attributed the volatility to weather, writing on X that “Hashrate likely fell off the network because of harsh winter conditions across the U.S., not because miners are worried about quantum computers.” His comment reflects a broader view that the swings were operational rather than structural.

Still, the 144.4 trillion level remains below the prior peak above 155 trillion recorded in November 2025, per Mempool data. Percentage-wise, the move is smaller than early-era jumps of 31.5% and 29.9% in 2011, when the network was far less mature. The next adjustment will test whether hashrate stabilizes above 1,000 EH/s or retreats as miners recalibrate power strategy and grid participation.