CryptoQuant estimated that the Bitcoin network's hashrate is 17% below its all-time record, amid the migration of publicly listed mining companies to artificial intelligence data centers. The calculation, done by analyst Maartunn, indicates that the computing power dedicated to mining has cooled relative to the peaks at the end of 2025.
Measurements from other providers show the hashrate in a range of 850 to 920 exahashes per second, after surpassing 1 zettahash per second at the end of 2025. Mining difficulty, adjusted every two weeks, fell as much as 19.9% below its own record in early August.
The pullback comes after a period of negative profitability. In March, listed miners were losing about US$19,000 per bitcoin produced, with an average cash cost close to US$80,000 per unit, above the spot price at the time.
The companies sold 32,000 bitcoins in the first quarter, a record volume and greater than the sum of sales across all four quarters of 2025, in an attempt to raise cash rather than expand capacity.
Mining companies expand AI contracts
Hut 8, Core Scientific, TeraWulf and IREN signed billion-dollar hosting agreements for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) in the past year. Hut 8's contracted AI infrastructure portfolio totals US$26.6 billion, and the accumulated contracts of listed miners already surpass US$70 billion.
The conversion is favored by mining facilities, which already have access to cheap electricity and grid connection. CoinShares projects that listed miners could generate 70% of revenue from AI and HPC by the end of 2026, versus about 30% in the latest report. According to the same research, hashrate could rise again to 1.8 zettahash per second by the end of 2026, contingent on bitcoin recovering to near US$100,000.
Even with weak mining economics, investors have rewarded the shift. A basket of mining stocks rose about 56% in early 2026, while bitcoin fell 17% in the same period.
