Bitcoin's network hashrate has declined below 1,000 exahashes per second for the first time since mid-September. According to Hashrate Index data, the seven-day moving average currently stands near 993 EH/s.
This represents a drop of nearly 15% from the October peak of around 1,157 EH/s. The decline comes despite recent signs of improving mining profitability, signaling deeper structural pressure within the industry.
AI Demand Reshaping Mining Economics
StandardHash founder and CEO Leon Lyu attributed the hashrate decline to miners reallocating power toward artificial intelligence workloads. In his view, AI compute services offer higher and more predictable margins than bitcoin mining.
Many mining facilities already operate large-scale power and cooling systems. As a result, they can be repurposed for AI and high-performance computing with limited additional investment. Therefore, miners increasingly treat bitcoin mining as a secondary option.
Lyu added that some hardware manufacturers may be deploying surplus machines through indirect arrangements. Because of this, publicly reported hashrate figures could understate actual installed capacity.
Lower Difficulty Has Not Reversed the Trend
Bitcoin mining difficulty has declined four times since November 2025, falling from 156 trillion to about 146.5 trillion. This reduction lowers the computational effort required to mine blocks, but it has not stopped the overall hashrate decline.
At the same time, hashprice has recovered modestly, rising from roughly $37 to $40 per PH/s per day. This indicates improving miner revenue, but the gains remain fragile.
As competition for electricity intensifies, AI is no longer a parallel trend. Instead, it has become a direct rival for grid access. The current hashrate decline highlights how bitcoin mining is adjusting to a new energy-driven landscape.