BTC Mining Difficulty Plummets 11% to 125.86T; Hashrate Falls Amid Price Slide and Storm Outages

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty fell 11% to 125.86T, its largest drop since the 2021 crackdown, as hashrate plunged due to plunging prices and winter storm outages in the U.S. The adjustment interval maintains a 10-minute block time. Prices slid from $126,000 to $69,500, pushing many miners offline and repurposing rigs toward AI workloads. Bitfarms (BITF) shares rose as the firm shifted focus to AI/HPCC data centers. Hashprice, a per-terahash measure, fell from ~$70 to <$35. Severe curtailments in Texas reduced output by over 60% for some. While lower difficulty eases block validation, it may also indicate miner-driven capitulation, with remaining miners gaining efficiency and the broader market seeking stabilization.