The Bitcoin network’s seven-day average computing power has climbed above one zettahash per second — the equivalent of a billion terahashes — for the first time on record, according to multiple data aggregators tracking the blockchain’s performance.
Figures published early Tuesday by mining-analytics firms Hashrate Index and Glassnode show the metric edging past 1.01 ZH/s late Monday before settling just under that mark in morning trading. A zettahash (1021 hashes) represents a near-doubling of the network’s horsepower in less than 12 months.
“The scale is unprecedented,” said a market strategist at London-based brokerage GlobalBlock who was not authorised to speak on the record. “At 1 ZH/s the network is performing roughly 100 quintillion calculations for every watt the first ASICs consumed a decade ago.”
The milestone came with a caveat: hashprice — the revenue a miner earns for each terahash of processing power — slipped to roughly $0.075 per TH/s per day, its lowest level since November 2023, data from Luxor Technologies show. That decline reflects a combination of a steadier bitcoin price around $66,000 and rising competition from newly deployed machines.
Hashrate expansion has been driven largely by publicly listed operators in North America who have accelerated deliveries of Bitmain’s S21 and MicroBT’s M60 series rigs ahead of the blockchain’s “halving,” expected around 19 April. The event will cut per-block rewards from 6.25 to 3.125 bitcoin, squeezing margins for less-efficient miners.
“We’re racing the clock,” Marathon Digital Holdings chief executive Fred Thiel told analysts during last week’s earnings call, adding that Marathon intends to increase its installed capacity by 30% before the halving.
Some analysts caution that headline hashrate figures can fluctuate sharply and may be inflated by pool-side measurement errors. Still, most agree the underlying trend points higher. The next automatic difficulty adjustment, due Thursday, is projected to rise about 2%, according to estimates from BTC.com.
Environmental critics renewed concerns about energy use as network power swelled. Alex de Vries, founder of Digiconomist, argued in a blog post that “efficiency gains are being more than offset by sheer scale.” Miners counter that a growing share of their power mix comes from stranded or renewable energy.
Looking ahead, analysts at JPMorgan say a sustained hashprice below $0.06 after the halving could force as much as 15% of the network offline, potentially easing difficulty and restoring profitability. For now, the arms race continues.