Bitcoin's mining difficulty has now spent 374 days below its October 2025 all-time high, the longest such stretch in the network's history, according to data from Mempool.space. The streak surpasses the previous record of 364 days set after the 2011 crash.
Record Streak Details
Difficulty peaked at 155.97 trillion (T) at block 921,312 on Oct. 29, 2025, and every adjustment since has landed below that mark. Economist and author Saifedean Ammous flagged the milestone on Saturday, noting that a 95% price drawdown in 2011 and the China mining ban were not as severe for mining difficulty.
Difficulty measures how hard it is to find a new block. The network adjusts it about every two weeks, or every 2,016 blocks, to keep blocks arriving roughly every 10 minutes regardless of how much computing power is pointed at the chain.
Comparison to Past Gaps
The previous record gap occurred after difficulty peaked on Aug. 1, 2011, and did not set a new high until July 30, 2012—a span of 364 days. That period coincided with the 2011 crash Ammous referenced.
The 2021 China mining ban, which forced a large share of the world's miners offline, caused a shorter gap. Difficulty peaked on May 13, 2021, and recovered to a new high by Jan. 21, 2022, about 253 days later.
This time the drop was milder but has lasted longer. Difficulty bottomed at 124.93T in mid-June 2026 after a 10.09% cut, about 20% below the peak.
Recovery Stalled Just Short
The gap had been closing as difficulty jumped 5.92% on Oct. 16 and rose another 5.54% on Oct. 29 to 148.36T, about 4.9% below the record. The network's seven-day hashrate also returned to 1 ZH/s (zettahash per second) in late October after nearly eight months below that level.
However, the next adjustment points the other way. Mempool.space estimates a drop of about 3.7% when the current epoch ends, roughly six days from now, which would push any new all-time high further out.
Miners Under Pressure
The pressure is coming from BTC's lacklustre price action as well as from rising overheads. At press time, bitcoin is trading just under $76,000, well below the levels that made last year's buildout pay off.
Publicly listed miners have been selling coins and moving into AI. Riot Platforms sold $750 million in bitcoin while Hut 8 sold $250 million. Keel Infrastructure dumped its entire $192 million treasury, while Terawulf and IREN bet big on AI as mining revenue continued to shrink.
Politics has added another risk because after the midterm sweep, Democrats are pushing data center limits that could hit Bitcoin miners competing for the same power.
What It Means
A long stretch below peak difficulty does not mean the network is weaker. Hashrate is back above 1 ZH/s, and blocks are still arriving on schedule, but it does show that the relentless growth in mining power has hit a wall.
The next difficulty adjustment around Nov. 13 is the near-term test, and a strong rebound for bitcoin could bring miners back and help move the difficulty ratio toward a new high again.
