Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, which measures how hard it is to add new blocks to the BTC blockchain, eased modestly on Saturday as several public miners sold large amounts of BTC to cover costs. Data from CoinWarz showed difficulty slipped about 1.1% over 24 hours to roughly 135.5 T. CoinWarz also projects the next adjustment, expected around May 1, 2026, will raise difficulty to about 137.43 T.
Miners have faced growing pressure over the past year from lower block rewards after the halving, higher energy costs, a protracted crypto bear market and geopolitical disruptions. Publicly traded mining firms sold record volumes of BTC in Q1 2026, according to TheEnergyMag: Marathon Digital, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer together moved more than 32,000 BTC during the quarter — exceeding the 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022 amid the Terra-Luna collapse.
These sales typically fund fiat-denominated operating expenses. But with the cost to mine a single BTC rising above spot prices for many operators, several companies are only just breaking even or worse. Asset manager CoinShares’ Q1 2026 report estimated up to 20% of miners are currently unprofitable. CoinShares noted that Q4 2025 was 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 significant headwinds for the industry.
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