Bitcoin hashrate hits seven-month high as AI shift fails to ease mining competition
Summary
Bitcoin’s seven-day average hashrate rose above 1 ZH/s, its highest level since March 3, despite publicly traded miners shifting capacity to AI. Mining difficulty rose 5.92% on Oct. 16 and may increase another 5.16%, indicating continued competition for miners. BlocksBridge says smaller operators may be buying used machines displaced by AI conversions, though the scale of their return to Bitcoin mining is unclear. Public miners’ realized hashrate reportedly fell 23% as their AI and high-performance computing revenue rose 52% quarter over quarter.
