Overview
- The final 2025 adjustment raised Bitcoin’s mining difficulty to roughly 148.2 trillion, setting a new all-time high.
- Analysts project the January 8 recalibration could nudge the metric toward about 149 trillion.
- Average block times near 9.95 minutes remain below the 10-minute target, signaling continued upward pressure on difficulty.
- Rising difficulty is squeezing miner margins and elevating shutdown or consolidation risks for less-efficient operators.
- Hardware suppliers such as Bitmain introduced December discounts with deliveries slated for early 2026 as buyers recalibrate spending.