Bitcoin hashrate posts first-quarter drop for first time in 6 years as miners pivot to AI
The first-quarter decline breaks a long-standing growth trend, but could ultimately support decentralization as public U.S. miners face losing dominance.
What to know:
- Bitcoin’s hashrate is down around 4% this year, the first first-quarter decline since 2020, following five consecutive years of double-digit growth.
- As mining economics deteriorate, firms are allocating capital to AI infrastructure, a shift that may reduce concentration among large U.S. miners and improve network decentralization.
For the first time in six years, the bitcoin hashrate, the total computational power securing the network, fell during the first quarter. It is currently down around 4% year to date, hovering around 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s).
Over the past five years, the rate has surged from roughly 100 exahashes per second (EH/s), a 10-fold increase, according to Glassnode data. Each year, the metric rose during the first quarter and ended with strong full-year growth in excess of 10%. In 2022, the figure almost doubled.
The AI Pivot
The shift in 2026 reflects changing economics across the bitcoin mining sector. With production costs near $90,000 per bitcoin and the spot price closer to $67,000, margins are negative. In response, many publicly listed miners are switching to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure, where returns are higher and more predictable.
