Bitcoin’s hashrate has declined around 4% year-to-date, marking its first first-quarter drop in six years as mining economics weaken.
The decline comes after five consecutive years of strong growth, with the network’s computational power previously expanding more than tenfold since 2020.
The shift reflects worsening profitability, with mining costs near $90,000 per Bitcoin compared with prices around $67,000, pushing many operators into negative margins.
In response, publicly listed miners are reallocating capital toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure, where returns are seen as more stable.
This transition is being funded through debt issuance and Bitcoin sales, reducing reinvestment into mining and making hashrate growth more sensitive to price movements.
While a lower hashrate may raise concerns about network security, it could also reduce the dominance of large US miners, which currently account for over 40% of global capacity.
Analysts suggest this shift may ultimately support decentralisation, with forecasts still pointing to potential hashrate growth if Bitcoin prices recover toward $100,000.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $67,074.89.