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Bitcoin Miners’ Revenues Fell 9.44% After Sharp Mining Difficulty Increase
After the hashprice metric approached the $40 per petahash per second (PH/s) mark, the latest decline in Bitcoin’s price caused hashprice to fall, reducing mining profitability since May 14. The following day, the situation worsened further due to a difficulty adjustment, which increased mining difficulty by 3.12% compared to the previous epoch.
Key takeaways:
- On May 15, Bitcoin mining difficulty reached 136.61T, while miners’ revenue fell by 9.44%.
- Data from Hashrateindex.com shows that the value of PH/s declined from $38.97 to $35.29 over four days.
- Bitcoin transaction fees accounted for only 0.59% of block rewards, placing the focus on BTC price dynamics.
Bitcoin Petahash Value Falls to $35 Amid Rising Mining Difficulty
Although the previous week was more favorable for miners, conditions have tightened significantly over the past four days.
Bitcoin network difficulty increased on May 15 at block height 949536, marking the first upward adjustment in more than a month, or two full epochs.
The 3.12% increase raised difficulty from 132.47 trillion to the current 136.61 trillion.
This also marked the fourth difficulty increase in 2026 and the third-largest adjustment recorded this year.
Reaching a Bitcoin mining difficulty of 136.61 trillion means that mining a block on the network is now approximately 136.61 trillion times harder than it was in 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto first launched Bitcoin.
However, the difficulty adjustment is far from the only pressure facing Bitcoin miners.
Pressure intensified over the last four days following the latest difficulty increase, as hashprice-related revenue continues to decline.
Simply put, hashprice represents the estimated daily value of 1 PH/s of hashing power.
Data recorded by hashrateindex.com shows that on May 14, hashprice stood at $38.97.
Since then, as mining difficulty increased, Bitcoin miner revenues have fallen by 9.44%, and one petahash is currently valued at approximately $35.29 per day.
This comes as Bitcoin retreated from its intraday high above $82,000 on May 14 and is now trading at $76,680 per coin as of 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, May 18.
Current statistics point toward a potential decline in difficulty during the next epoch adjustment, expected on or around May 29, although with 1,576 blocks still remaining to be mined at the time of publication, those projections could change significantly before then.
Block intervals are slowing at a slightly more moderate pace, contributing to the projected decrease, though only marginally: the average block time currently stands at around 10 minutes and 12 seconds.
Bitcoin transaction fees tied to on-chain transfers also remain relatively insignificant, accounting for just 0.59% of total block rewards over the last 24 hours.
From a revenue perspective, mining profitability ultimately depends on difficulty epochs and hashprice conditions, both of which are tied to Bitcoin’s market dynamics.
As for hashrate, on May 11 — just a few days before May 14 — the network briefly surpassed the threshold of 1,000 exahashes per second (EH/s), or 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s).
Since then, computing power has declined and currently stands at 959.03 EH/s as of 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on May 18.
This decline was driven by both falling revenues and rising difficulty.
For miners already operating on thin margins, the current environment leaves little room for error, as efficiency and electricity costs become increasingly decisive factors.
A modest rise in Bitcoin’s price or a softer difficulty adjustment could provide temporary relief, but the sector’s near-term direction still depends on whether market momentum can outpace the steady expansion of the network’s computing power over the coming days, weeks, and months.
See also: "Bitcoin Mining Stocks Fell on Friday but Still Outperformed BTC in 2026"
