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Bitcoin Difficulty Drops 10.09% at Block 953,568

The cut restores miner margins by boosting bitcoin output per unit of active hashrate.

Overview

  • The network retarget at block 953,568 on June 14 reduced difficulty from 138.96T to 124.93T, a 10.09% fall that the data sources rank as the 11th-largest downward adjustment in Bitcoin’s history.
  • The adjustment followed a roughly 15% slide in Bitcoin’s price in early June that tightened miner revenue and stretched the mining epoch to about 15.6 days, signaling that a meaningful chunk of hashrate went offline.
  • Lower difficulty raises BTC output per unit of active hashrate by just over 9%, which pushes hashprice back toward or above roughly $30 per PH/s and gives surviving, efficient miners immediate margin relief.
  • Part of the hashrate loss reflects seasonal grid curtailments — notably ERCOT’s 4CP peak windows in Texas — and a structural shift as public miners convert power capacity to AI and high-performance computing hosting.
  • This cut completes a pattern of 2026 volatility — following large drops in February and March — and the next retarget, expected around July 11, will show if idled rigs return or if repurposed capacity keeps downward pressure on difficulty.