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Bitcoin’s mining sector reached a landmark in 2025 as total network hashrate expanded from about 801 exahashes per second in January into the zettahash era by September.
The sustained growth in computing power marked one of the most consequential years for proof-of-work security in Bitcoin’s history.
Early in the year, winter storms disrupted electricity supply across several regions, prompting the first network difficulty reduction since late 2024.
At the same time, transaction fees dropped to their lowest levels since 2012, placing additional strain on miner revenues.
Despite these challenges, overall hashrate continued to rise steadily through the first quarter of the year.
In September, Bitcoin crossed the symbolic threshold of one zettahash per second on a seven-day moving average basis.
The milestone meant the network was processing more than 10²¹ SHA-256 calculations every second.
Analysts noted the achievement represented three additional orders of magnitude beyond the one-exahash level reached in 2016.
The surge significantly increased Bitcoin’s resistance to potential network attacks by raising the cost of controlling majority hashpower.