Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 8% Amid Rising Energy Costs and Miner Pressure

ChainCatcher report, according to CoinDesk, Bitcoin’s hash rate has seen a significant decline due to rising oil prices driven by the Middle East conflict, putting pressure on miners and the broader market. Over the past week, network hash rate dropped approximately 8% to 920 EH/s, suggesting a possible new phase of miner sell-offs, typically accompanied by downward price pressure. Bitcoin’s current price is below $72,000, down about 5% from Monday’s high. The network is expected to undergo an approximately 8% difficulty adjustment—the second-largest negative adjustment in the past five years. Earlier in mid-February, Bitcoin also experienced a historic large difficulty reduction, highlighting the volatility of mining activity. Analysis indicates that miners are under pressure due to intensified competition, persistently low transaction fees, and Bitcoin price volatility, all of which compress profit margins. Many publicly traded mining companies are beginning to diversify into areas such as AI and high-performance computing, while increasing Bitcoin sales to sustain operations—this also exerts some downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.