BlockOps Mining · Updated October 22, 2026
Difficulty, hashrate and hashprice figures are as published for the October 16, 2026 retarget. The next adjustment date and direction are estimates and change daily. Per-machine margins are illustrative projections at the stated power rates, before hosting fees, pool fees and depreciation. Nothing here is financial advice.
Key Takeaways
1
Difficulty rose 5.92% to 140.58T on October 16. It was the third-largest increase of 2026 and took difficulty to its highest level since March 5.
[1]
2
Hashprice fell from about $39 to $36.75 per PH per day. Bitcoin eased toward $81,600 at the same time, and transaction fees were under 1% of miner revenue, so nothing cushioned the drop.
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3
A 6% revenue cut is a much bigger margin cut. On an S21 XP at $0.07/kWh, revenue fell about 6% but daily margin fell about 14%. At $0.09/kWh, margin fell about 23%.
[5]
4
Power rate is the only lever that shrinks the hit. The lower your all-in rate, the smaller the share of your margin each difficulty increase takes. Older machines on higher rates are now close to break-even or below it.
Did the last retarget take a bigger bite than you expected?
See current inventory and rates, or walk through your numbers with the team.
Rates as low as $0.07/kWh pass-through, curtailment capped at 120 hrs/yr, you keep title.
Why did bitcoin mining difficulty jump in October?
Short answer
Machines came back online. Cooler weather ended summer curtailment, a better bitcoin price brought marginal capacity back, and hashrate climbed past 1 ZH/s. Blocks came in faster than ten minutes, so the network raised difficulty to compensate.
[3]
The retarget took effect at block 971,712 on October 16, moving difficulty from 132.72T to 140.58T. It was the third-largest increase of the year. [1]
Hashrate is up nearly 20% from its summer low. End of summer means fewer hot hours and less exposure to ERCOT's Four Coincident Peak program, so Texas operators can run more hours. Add a price recovery and some older capacity that had been switched off became worth switching back on. Difficulty has now risen in three of the last four adjustments, with the other one roughly flat. [3]
For context, difficulty is still about 10% below its October 2025 record of 155.97T. Some headlines this week called 140.58T an all-time high. It isn't. But your margin doesn't care about the record; it cares about the direction, and the direction has been up. [3]
How much does a 5.92% difficulty increase cut your margin?
Short answer
More than 5.92%. Your power bill doesn't change when difficulty does, so the whole revenue loss comes out of your margin. The higher your power rate, the larger the share of margin you lose.
Here is the arithmetic on one S21 XP: 270 TH/s, or 0.27 PH, at 3,645W. That's 87.48 kWh a day. At a $39 hashprice it grossed about $10.53 a day. At $36.75 it grosses about $9.92, a drop of $0.61, or roughly 6%. [5] [2]
At $0.06/kWh. Power is about $5.25 a day. Margin goes from $5.28 to $4.67, a 12% cut.
At $0.07/kWh. Power is about $6.12 a day. Margin goes from $4.41 to $3.80, a 14% cut.
At $0.09/kWh. Power is about $7.87 a day. Margin goes from $2.66 to $2.05, a 23% cut.
On an older S21 at $0.09/kWh. A 200 TH/s, 3,500W machine now grosses about $7.35 a day against about $7.56 in power. It is mining at a loss before any hosting or pool fees.
[7]
Another way to see it is the break-even power rate. At $36.75, an S21 XP covers power up to about $0.113/kWh. An S21 covers it up to about $0.0875/kWh. Every difficulty increase pulls those lines lower, and the machine closest to its line is the one that gets switched off first.
Our profitability breakdown runs the same math across more machine classes. If you only remember one thing from it, make it this: the gap between $0.07 and $0.09 is worth more than most hardware upgrades.
What should miners watch before the next difficulty adjustment?
The next retarget is expected around the end of October. Early estimates have pointed modestly lower, but estimates this far out move with every block, so don't budget for a cut until it prints. [2]
The Fed, October 27 and 28. The rate decision lands right before the retarget. It will move the bitcoin price, and with it the dollar value of every petahash you run.
[1]Fees. With fees under 1% of revenue, the block subsidy is doing nearly all the work. Don't count on a fee spike to offset a difficulty increase.
[4]Winter weather. In February, Winter Storm Fern forced major Texas operators offline, hashrate fell to about 663 EH/s, and difficulty dropped 11.16%. Storms knock hashrate off the network, but they also knock your machines offline if your host curtails.
[6]
That last point matters more as margins get thinner. Every curtailed hour costs you a slice of a smaller number, and an uncapped curtailment clause turns a cold week into a lost month of margin. How curtailment hours show up on an invoice walks through what to check on your bill.
BlockOps operates on transparent pass-through power pricing, a 120-hour annual curtailment cap, and 60-day written termination notice. Clients retain title to their equipment throughout.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is bitcoin's mining difficulty right now?
140.58T, set at block 971,712 on October 16, 2026. That is up 5.92% from 132.72T and the highest level since early March, but still about 10% below the October 2025 record of 155.97T.
When is the next bitcoin difficulty adjustment?
Around the end of October 2026, 2,016 blocks after the October 16 retarget. The exact date depends on how fast blocks arrive between now and then, so it can shift by a day or two either way.
What is hashprice in October 2026?
About $36.75 per PH per day after the October 16 retarget, down from roughly $39 the week before. It topped $41 twice in early October before the difficulty increase and a softer bitcoin price pulled it back.
Is bitcoin mining still profitable after the difficulty increase?
On current-generation hardware at a competitive rate, yes. An S21 XP at $0.07/kWh still clears about $3.80 a day in gross margin. Older machines on rates near $0.09/kWh are at or below break-even.
Why does a difficulty increase hurt margin more than revenue?
Because your costs don't move with it. Your machine draws the same power and your rate stays the same, so the full revenue loss lands on your margin. A 6% revenue drop on a machine with a 40% margin is closer to a 14% margin drop.
Will difficulty go down this winter?
It might, briefly. Severe weather can take a lot of hashrate offline at once, as Winter Storm Fern did in February. But the miners who benefit from that drop are the ones still running, which is why your host's curtailment terms matter in winter.
You can't control difficulty. You can control your rate.
Open the marketplace for current inventory and rates, or get the team on a call.
Rates as low as $0.07/kWh pass-through, curtailment capped at 120 hrs/yr, you keep title.
