NEW YORK — The Bitcoin network’s total processing power climbed back above the symbolic one-zettahash-per-second mark on Wednesday, according to multiple blockchain analytics dashboards, underscoring miners’ vigorous race to bring new machines online even as their dollar earnings per unit of compute continue to slide.
Data compiled by Glassnode and MiningPoolStats show the seven-day average hashrate reached roughly 1.02 ZH/s late 27 March, regaining territory lost during February’s cold-weather-driven outages in Texas. The rebound coincided with a fresh record for network difficulty, which jumped 3.2% at the latest bi-weekly adjustment, meaning miners must expend still more energy to win the same block reward.
At the same time, estimated hashprice — the revenue a miner receives for one terahash of computing power per day — fell below US$0.06, its weakest level since August 2023, according to Luxor Technologies. “Margins are compressing rapidly,” said a note from digital-asset broker Galaxy. “Only the most efficient fleets can operate profitably at sub-six-cent hashprice.”
Publicly listed operators such as Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms have expanded capacity in recent months, betting that scale and lower power contracts will offset the looming cut in block rewards slated for mid-April, when the network’s programmed “halving” will slice the subsidy from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. Still, several mid-sized North American miners are already considering idling older S19 series ASICs should hashprice dip further, industry sources told SourceRated.
Analysts say macro forces are pulling in opposite directions. “You’ve got a record hashrate because rigs ordered a year ago are finally landing, but price action hasn’t kept pace,” explained Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant. Bitcoin traded around US$70,000 on Thursday afternoon, roughly flat week-on-week.
The wedge between soaring computational supply and flagging revenues is particularly acute for miners with debt-funded expansion plans. Fitch Ratings warned last month that post-halving break-even power costs could fall below 4 cents per kilowatt-hour for some operators. Companies unable to refinance may be forced to liquidate assets, potentially flooding the secondary hardware market and, paradoxically, enabling lower-cost entrants.
Looking ahead, market participants will watch the next difficulty reset on 9 April and credit conditions for listed miners. A sustained rally in bitcoin’s spot price could quickly reverse the revenue squeeze; absent that, analysts expect industry consolidation to accelerate through the second half of 2026.