Bitcoin mining difficulty significantly reduced by 7.76%, marking the second largest drop this year, as mining companies accelerate their shift towards AI

The Bitcoin mining difficulty experienced an adjustment at block height 941,472, with the mining difficulty reduced by 7.76% to 133.79 T; currently, the average hash rate across the network for the past seven days is 937.76 EH/s. This marks the second largest drop this year, second only to the significant reduction of 11.16% on February 7.

JPMorgan analysts estimated in February that, with the exit of high-cost operators, the cost of Bitcoin mining has decreased from $90,000 to $77,000, but it still exceeds the spot price. This difficulty reduction not only reflects cyclical price pressures but also indicates structural changes. An increasing number of listed mining companies are shifting their infrastructure from Bitcoin mining to AI computing business. Core Scientific stated that it expects to sell most of its holdings in its Bitcoin treasury by 2026 to fund AI and high-performance computing expansion; Bitdeer completely liquidated its Bitcoin reserves to zero in February, and as of the weekly report on March 21, Bitdeer's Bitcoin holdings remain at zero. Companies such as Cango, Riot Platforms, TeraWulf, IREN, CleanSpark, and Bitfarms have also developed similar diversification strategies in recent quarters.