Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Decreased by 3.34%, Ending Four Consecutive Increases, Providing a Bit of "Breathing Room" for Miners.
The Bitcoin network has recorded its first difficulty reduction after four consecutive increases over the past two months. At Block Height 895,104, the difficulty index dropped by 3.34%, from 123.23 thousand to 119.12 thousand. This is the first time since the adjustment on March 9, 2025, that Bitcoin mining difficulty has shown a decline.
The current Bitcoin network difficulty – a dynamic indicator showing the computational complexity required to find the next valid block – is at 119.12 thousand. In practical terms, this number estimates the number of hash attempts a Miner needs to perform, averaging 119.12 thousand guesses, to find a valid block. This mechanism is designed to ensure an average block appearance of around 10 minutes, regardless of changes in total Hash Rate.
Miners Benefit Despite High Block Time
As of Sunday, May 4, the Bitcoin network is operating with a total Hash Rate of 885.51 exahash per second (EH/s), equivalent to nearly 885 trillion SHA-256 calculations performed globally per second. However, even after the difficulty decrease, the average block time still exceeds the 10-minute target, currently reaching around 10 minutes and 22 seconds.
If this trend continues, there could be another difficulty reduction on May 18. However, Hash Rate can fluctuate at any time – if it increases significantly, block time could shorten and reverse the next projected adjustment.
A notable bright spot is that Miners' profitability has clearly improved recently. Hashprice – estimated daily revenue per petahash per second (PH/s) of SHA256 computing power – has significantly increased from $45.87 on April 4 to $50.80 currently. This revenue increase has helped boost the network's total Hash Rate, from 824 EH/s on April 27 to 885.51 EH/s currently.
