Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Sees Major 7.76% Adjustment, Marking Second Biggest Drop This Year as Mining Firms Accelerate Shift to AI

BlockBeats News, March 22nd, according to The Block, the Bitcoin mining difficulty saw a mining difficulty adjustment at block height 941,472 (March 21st), with the mining difficulty dropping by 7.76% to 133.79 T; the current network's average seven-day hash rate is 937.76 EH/s. This marks the second-largest drop this year, second only to the significant 11.16% decrease on February 7th.

JPMorgan analysts estimated in February that the Bitcoin mining cost has dropped from $90,000 to $77,000 due to the exit of high-cost operators, but it still remains above the spot price. This difficulty adjustment not only reflects the periodic price pressure but also indicates a structural shift. An increasing number of publicly listed mining companies are transitioning their infrastructure from Bitcoin mining to AI hashpower business. Core Scientific stated that it plans to sell most of its Bitcoin treasury by 2026 to fund AI and high-performance computing expansion; Bitdeer completely cleared its Bitcoin reserves in February, and as of the March 21st weekly report, Bitdeer's Bitcoin holdings remain at zero. Companies such as Cango, Riot Platforms, TeraWulf, IREN, CleanSpark, and Bitfarms have also formulated similar diversification strategies in recent quarters.