Bitcoin's network difficulty rose by 3.87% at block height 943488 on April 4, 2026, pushing the metric to 138.97 trillion. This marks the third increase in seven adjustments this year, following a 7.76% decline in the previous epoch. The latest uptick contrasts sharply with a notable drop in network hashrate, which has fallen 60.45 EH/s from a recent peak of 1,022 EH/s on March 28 to 961.55 EH/s — the first time below 1,000 EH/s in weeks.
Hashrate Decline and Impending Difficulty Cut
With slower block production — average intervals of 11 minutes 39 seconds versus the 10-minute target — the Bitcoin protocol is now projecting a difficulty reduction of approximately 14.27% at the next adjustment scheduled for April 19, 2026. If confirmed, this would be the largest single downward adjustment in 2026, offering relief to miners who have endured compressed margins.
The current slowdown stems directly from a shrinking hashrate, as mining operators face a harsh revenue environment. Daily hashprice stands at just $30.67 per petahash per second (PH/s), one of the lowest levels in Bitcoin's history relative to network value. Transaction fees contribute a mere 0.56% of each block reward, leaving miners almost entirely dependent on the base subsidy.
Miners Redirect Power to AI Infrastructure
Compressed revenues have driven a structural shift: many mining firms are now reallocating electrical capacity to artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, which can yield significantly higher returns per megawatt. This trend accelerated in early 2026, with several publicly listed miners announcing partial conversions of their data centers for AI cloud services or even complete exits from Bitcoin mining.
As a result, Bitcoin's total computational power has fallen by nearly 6% in just one week. The exodus may deepen if hashprice fails to recover. With 106,335 blocks remaining until the next halving (estimated in 2028), future block subsidy reductions will further strain miner profitability — unless Bitcoin's price rises substantially or on-chain fee markets gain traction.
Self-Correcting Mechanism at Work
Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment algorithm is designed to counteract such cycles. When miners leave, hashrate declines, blocks slow down, and difficulty drops — eventually making mining profitable again for those who remain. The projected 14.27% cut would be one of the largest single adjustments in recent memory, potentially restoring equilibrium.
However, if AI continues to offer superior returns, some portion of mining capacity may never return. The long-term stability of Bitcoin's network depends on either a significant price rally or a revival of transaction fees — currently at anemic levels. New protocols like Ordinals and Runes could help, but have not yet reversed the fee drought. Until then, miners face a tightening squeeze that may reshape the industry's landscape.