Bitcoin miner revenue falls after difficulty jump

Bitcoin mining profitability declined sharply after the network’s latest difficulty adjustment increased mining difficulty by 3.12%, reducing miner revenue by 9.44% since May 14.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty rose from 132.47 trillion to 136.61 trillion at block height 949536 on May 15, marking the first upward adjustment in more than a month and the fourth increase recorded in 2026.

Data from Hashrate Index showed hashprice, the estimated daily value generated by 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of mining power, fell from $38.97 on May 14 to roughly $35.29 following the latest difficulty increase.

The decline in mining revenue also coincided with Bitcoin’s price falling from an intraday high above $82,000 on May 14 to around $76,680 by Monday afternoon, further pressuring mining margins.

Bitcoin’s network hashrate briefly exceeded 1 zettahash per second on May 11 before declining to roughly 959 exahash per second as profitability weakened and operational pressures increased.

Transaction fees remained a limited source of revenue for miners, accounting for only 0.59% of total block rewards over the past 24 hours as onchain activity stayed relatively subdued.

Current projections suggest Bitcoin’s next difficulty adjustment around May 29 could result in a slight decline, though mining profitability will remain closely tied to Bitcoin’s market price, network competition and energy costs.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $77,063.56.