BlockBeats news, on March 22, according to CoinDesk, Bitcoin miners are currently facing significant cost pressures. CheckOnChain’s difficulty regression model shows that as of March 13, the average production cost of Bitcoin was approximately $88,000, while Bitcoin’s current price is around $69,200—a difference of nearly $19,000, meaning the average miner is losing about 21% per Bitcoin mined.
Cost pressures have been mounting since Bitcoin dropped below $70,000 from $126,000 in October last year, and the Iran conflict has further intensified this situation. Oil prices surpassing $100 per barrel have directly increased miners’ electricity costs, particularly affecting those relying on energy markets sensitive to the Middle East, which account for approximately 8% to 10% of global hash power. Trump’s Saturday ultimatum—threatening to attack Iranian power plants—has added another layer of risk for miners.
Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 7.76% on Saturday to 133.79 T, marking the second-largest drop since 2026. Difficulty is now approximately 10% lower than at the start of the year and significantly below the all-time high of around 155 T in November 2025. The global hash rate has retreated to approximately 920 EH/s, with the average block time extending to 12 minutes and 36 seconds over the previous cycle. The current hash rate price is about $33.30 per PH/s/day, nearing the break-even point for most mining rigs and close to the historical low of $28 set on February 23.
When miners are unable to cover their costs, they are forced to sell Bitcoin to sustain operations, further increasing market selling pressure given that 43% of the Bitcoin supply is currently underwater. Public mining companies such as Marathon Digital and Cipher Mining are responding to these challenges by diversifying into AI and high-performance computing. The next difficulty adjustment is expected in early April and is projected to continue declining, according to CoinWarz data.