Bitcoin’s network hashrate has climbed back above 1 zettahash per second, showing that competition among miners remains intense even as large publicly traded operators redirect computing capacity toward artificial intelligence workloads.
The seven-day average hashrate reached its highest level since March 3, according to BlocksBridge Consulting’s latest Miner Weekly newsletter, as reported by Cointelegraph. The development suggests that other mining companies may be replacing at least some of the computing power taken offline by major operators moving into AI and high-performance computing.
Mining difficulty continues to rise
Hashrate represents the total computing power being used to process transactions and secure the Bitcoin network. One zettahash per second equals 1,000 exahashes per second.
The increase has not brought much relief to miners that continue to focus on Bitcoin. Network mining difficulty rose 5.92% on Oct. 16, while BlocksBridge expects a further 5.16% increase at the next adjustment. If that estimate is reached, difficulty would have risen by about 11.4% over two consecutive adjustments.
Mining difficulty is automatically adjusted to help maintain Bitcoin’s targeted pace for producing new blocks. When more computing power competes for those blocks, difficulty increases, making the operating environment more demanding for individual miners.
BlocksBridge said the latest figures offered little of the breathing room that remaining Bitcoin miners might have expected from the industry’s AI transition.
Used equipment could be returning to the network
The move into AI has already removed a significant amount of mining capacity from publicly traded companies. BlocksBridge previously estimated that these miners’ realized hashrate fell 23% in a quarter, while their reported revenue from AI and high-performance computing rose 52%. The displaced equipment was estimated to represent about $1.5 billion in mining hardware.
Some of that machinery may now be finding a second life with smaller and mid-sized operators. BlocksBridge highlighted Sazmining, which advertises used Antminer S21 XP machines that customers can deploy through hosting facilities in Paraguay and Texas.
Purchasing secondhand machines can be more economical than buying new equipment for miners with access to lower-cost electricity. Still, it is not clear how much of the equipment being offered came from publicly traded miners or how much has actually been connected to the Bitcoin network again.
Market picture
Moneyiar data at 23:09 on Oct. 22, 2026, put Bitcoin at $81,271.589217426, down 3.54% over 24 hours and 1.09% over seven days. Celestia was $0.5566086861, down 8.41% in 24 hours and 6.03% over seven days. Monad stood at $0.0209715851, down 5.21% and 8.88%, respectively, while Compound was $24.3238849554, down 4.73% over 24 hours but up 8.73% over seven days.
The hashrate rebound has also been viewed by some industry participants as an indirect positive signal for Bitcoin because it indicates continued investment in mining infrastructure and network security. That interpretation does not change the immediate pressure created by rising difficulty, which can affect the economics of miners competing for the same block rewards.
