Bitcoin Hashrate Posts First Quarterly Drop Since 2020 as Miners Shift Capital to AI

Bitcoin’s hashrate declined about 4% year to date, marking the first first-quarter drop since 2020 and ending five consecutive years of double-digit expansion. The network’s computing power is currently hovering near 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s).

Data from Glassnode shows the hashrate surged from roughly 100 exahashes per second (EH/s) over the past five years, reflecting nearly a tenfold increase. Historically, the metric rose in every first quarter and finished each year with growth exceeding 10%, with 2022 seeing the hashrate nearly double.

AI Infrastructure Shift May Improve Bitcoin Decentralization

The slowdown reflects worsening mining economics, with production costs estimated near $90,000 per bitcoin compared to spot prices around $67,000, creating negative margins. In response, publicly listed miners are shifting capital toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure, funded through debt issuance and bitcoin sales.

Public U.S. miners currently account for more than 40% of global hashrate, and reduced concentration could support decentralization. Despite the slowdown, CoinShares forecasts hashrate growth toward 1.8 ZH/s by late 2026 if bitcoin prices recover toward $100,000.

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