Hash price falls 17.54% in October despite recovery in Bitcoin network hashrate
Key Facts
Hash price, a measure of estimated revenue per unit of mining power, fell 17.54% between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1, from $40.24 per petahash per second per day to $33.18, according to data cited by Bitcoin.com News from Hashrate Index. The decline coincided with a 7.3% drop in Bitcoin’s price during October, the same source said. Hash price measures the expected revenue from computing power and does not represent net profit after electricity and operating costs. Meanwhile, the network’s hashrate and difficulty rose during the month, highlighting the divergence between recovering computing activity and falling returns per unit of power. Mining revenue is paid to miners through block subsidies and transaction fees in return for producing blocks and verifying transactions, according to Newhedge.
The previous monthly comparison showed miners’ revenue at $1.26 billion in November 2025, followed by about $1.20 billion in December, according to Bitcoin.com News. That revenue consists of block subsidies and transaction fees, but does not on its own reveal companies’ profitability, which is also affected by the cost of producing each Bitcoin. CoinShares estimated listed miners’ average cash production cost before taxes at about $75,500 per Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2026. In the same quarter, the average monthly hash price hit a record low of $27.7 per petahash per second per day, the report said. Bitcoin also ended the quarter at $58,400, less than half its peak in October 2025, according to CoinShares.
At the network level, the seven-day average hashrate exceeded 1,000 exahashes per second on Oct. 11 for the first time since June 1, and remained above that level afterward, according to Hashrate Index. Mining difficulty rose 5.54% in the Oct. 29 adjustment to 148.36 trillion. Difficulty therefore increased by a cumulative 16.4%, from 127.45 trillion on Sept. 12 to 148.36 trillion on Oct. 29. The simultaneous rise in hashrate and difficulty alongside a decline in hash price means estimated revenue per unit of power fell during the period, without the data establishing that the hashrate increase alone caused the decline. CoinShares had linked the second-quarter drop in hash price to Bitcoin’s weakness and estimated that it later rose to about $38 as the cryptocurrency recovered to about $77,000.
Some listed mining companies are moving to scale back operations, as a CoinShares report said at least 35 exahashes per second of hashrate is expected to leave these companies starting in the third quarter of 2026. The report said Keel had already reached zero, while IREN plans to exit by Dec. 31, 2026, with 23.2 exahashes per second installed. It expected Cipher to exit mining by the end of 2027, with 11.6 exahashes per second at its Odessa facility. These plans reflect shifts in capacity among listed companies, while the network continues to register a high hashrate. The report said improved mining economics in the third quarter depend on Bitcoin remaining above $70,000 throughout the quarter.
For the coming months, Luxor’s hashrate forward market curve, according to Hashrate Index, points to 1,056 exahashes per second in November and 1,059 exahashes per second in December 2026. Those levels are close to the network’s average of about 1,062 exahashes per second in the recent period, the source said. The forecast extends to 1,100 exahashes per second by March 2027. This path puts expected hashrate near recently recorded levels through year-end, before a further projected increase in early 2027. These figures remain estimates derived from the futures market, not actual measurements for future periods.