Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Nears 149 Trillion as Hashrate Shifts and Hardware Prices Fall Into Early 2026

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty climbed to 148.2 trillion in the final adjustment of 2025 and is projected to approach about 149 trillion around Jan. 8, 2026, as network computing power continues to grow. Faster block times and elevated competition are tightening miner margins, while Bitmain cuts ASIC prices and network hashrate shows a roughly 4% pullback into mid-December.