The Bitcoin network completed its last difficulty adjustment of 2025, with the metric rising to 148.2 trillion. The next adjustment is scheduled for January 8, 2026, at block 931,392 and is expected to raise difficulty to 149 trillion.
Currently, the average block time is around 9.95 minutes, slightly below the 10-minute target, so the difficulty adjustment will likely increase to bring block times closer to the goal.
Latest Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Adjustment in 2025
In the final difficulty adjustment of 2025, the network's difficulty parameter increased to 148.2 trillion, marking part of a series of record highs for the year. This rise reflects the accumulated network power and impacts competition among miners.
The trend of rising difficulty has been discussed in several related articles, including how miners maintain positions amid growth, miners holding positions, and forecasts for growth in December 2025 growth in December 2025.
Reasons and Mechanism of Difficulty Adjustment
Difficulty adjusts automatically every 2016 blocks, roughly every two weeks. This mechanism modifies the relative computational difficulty to keep the average time between blocks close to 10 minutes.
This dynamic adjustment prevents rapid shifts in computational resource distribution and serves as a safeguard against network centralization risks, including the possibility of majority hashrate control.
Impact of Rising Difficulty on Miners
Increasing difficulty means more computational power and energy are required to mine the same number of bitcoins, raising operational costs. For many operators, this intensifies competition for each block and pressures profit margins, as detailed in articles about the future of mining margin pressure.
As difficulty rises, less efficient equipment may become unprofitable, prompting miners to reassess their farm economics and power distribution strategies.
Forecasts for 2026
The upcoming adjustment on January 8, 2026, at block height 931,392, is expected to increase difficulty to approximately 149 trillion. This adjustment follows the current average block time being slightly below the target and aims to restore balance.
The effect of this increase primarily involves higher mining costs and intensified competition among network participants, affecting both small and large operations.
Why This Matters
For a miner operating one or a hundred devices, rising difficulty means fewer bitcoins mined per equipment cycle at the same electricity and maintenance costs. This directly impacts profitability and equipment payback periods.
Even if your farm isn’t a large center, higher difficulty makes efficiency more critical: electricity rates, ASIC efficiency, and pool connection strategies become more important to maintain profitability.
What To Do?
Below are practical steps to help miners with 1–1000 devices adapt to rising difficulty. The list is designed for application both in home setups and small farms.
- Recalculate profitability with current difficulty: consider 148.2 trillion and the expected 149 trillion when planning revenue.
- Evaluate equipment efficiency—compare power consumption and hashrate, prioritizing the most efficient ASICs.
- Optimize uptime and firmware: reducing downtime and proper configuration can improve profitability without extra investment.
- Review electricity tariffs and options to switch providers or use night/industrial rates to lower costs.
- Use pools with suitable fees and payout models to stabilize income amid rising difficulty.
- Plan upgrades only after calculating payback: new investments make sense if they truly improve the hashrate-to-energy ratio.