Bitcoin’s network difficulty, the metric that gauges how hard it is to mine new BTC blocks, fell modestly on Saturday after several public miners sold sizeable amounts of bitcoin to cover expenses. CoinWarz data showed difficulty declined roughly 1.1% over 24 hours to about 135.5 trillion (T). CoinWarz also projects the next difficulty adjustment, expected around May 1, 2026, will lift difficulty to roughly 137.43 T.
Miners have been under increasing pressure over the past year from the post-halving drop in block rewards, rising energy costs, a prolonged crypto bear market and geopolitical disruptions. Publicly traded mining firms recorded record BTC sales in Q1 2026: Marathon Digital, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer together moved more than 32,000 BTC during the quarter, according to TheEnergyMag — surpassing the roughly 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022 amid the Terra‑Luna crisis.
Those sales are generally used to cover fiat-denominated operating costs. But for many operators the all-in cost to produce a single bitcoin has exceeded spot prices, leaving several firms only breaking even or operating at a loss. Asset manager CoinShares estimated in its Q1 2026 report that up to 20% of miners were unprofitable. CoinShares also flagged Q4 2025 as the toughest quarter since the April 2024 halving, citing a sharp BTC price correction from about $125,000 in October 2025 to roughly $86,000 by December 2025 alongside rising network difficulty as major challenges for the industry.
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