Following the latest recalculation, the mining difficulty of Bitcoin has increased by 14.73%, reaching 144.4 T.

Source: CloverPool. 

This marks one of the largest changes since 2021, when a ban on digital asset mining in China caused network disruptions, followed by a 22% increase as conditions stabilized.

The current rise follows an 11% drop triggered by a decrease in hash rate due to a winter storm in the U.S. Adverse weather conditions forced many large miners to temporarily halt operations. 

As of February 19, Bitcoin's hash rate remains above 1 ZH/s, with a seven-day moving average at 1.01 ZH/s.

Source: Glassnode. 

Foundry USA dominates the global hash rate with a share of 33.62%, followed by AntPool at 14.35% and ViaBTC at 12.42%.

Over the past day, the hash price has fallen from $33.5 to $29.7 per PH/s.

Source: Hashrate Index. 

Despite the decline in profitability, miners with access to cheap energy continue to expand their operations. For instance, the unrealized profit from Bitcoin mining in the UAE has reached $350 million.

These well-capitalized and efficient companies maintain high hash rates even amid low prices for the leading cryptocurrency, which is approximately $67,900 at the time of writing (CoinGecko). 

The Race for Megawatts

Fourteen major mining companies plan to introduce around 30 GW of new capacity aimed at AI workloads, according to TheEnergyMag. This is nearly three times their current capacity of 11 GW.

Source: TheEnergyMag. 

The reason behind this is the decline in cryptocurrency mining revenues due to persistently low hash prices. Companies are looking to redirect their primary asset—access to energy—toward the more lucrative AI infrastructure market.

However, most of these megawatts currently exist only on paper, in connection requests, or early stages of implementation. Analysts estimate that the proposed infrastructure is comparable to the energy supply of a small country, but actual deployment may fall significantly short.

“The announced megawatts are not a guarantee of success, but merely a formal figure,” noted TheEnergyMag.

According to analysts, the industry is undergoing a structural transformation. Previously, competition focused on the efficiency of ASIC miners and electricity costs, but now key factors include:

  • access to capital;
  • ability to connect to power grids;
  • capacity to deliver data centers on time.

Transitioning to the AI segment introduces new risks. In mining, monetization occurred automatically—equipment began mining Bitcoin as soon as it was connected. 

With AI infrastructure, the situation is more complex. Computing power must be leased to clients, and its utilization depends on demand, service quality, and competitive offerings.

Essentially, miners are becoming infrastructure providers. In this business model, access to energy is just a basic requirement that does not guarantee stable revenue.

“This is a race for megawatts in the era of the AI boom. However, its outcome depends on demand stability and companies' ability to monetize the infrastructure they are currently planning to build,” concluded the experts.

Recall that in early February, Bitcoin miner Cipher Mining announced it had raised $2 billion to expand AI computing.