Bitcoin hashrate drops 15% from October high as miner capitulation drags into almost 60 days

Bitcoin’s network hashrate, the computing power devoted to keeping the blockchain running, has fallen roughly 15% from its October peak, a sign of growing stress among miners.

The average computing power securing the network has declined from around 1.1 zettahashes per second (ZH/s) in October to roughly 977 exahashes per second (EH/s), indicating that miners are switching off machines, or capitulating, as profitability deteriorates.

This decline is reflected in Glassnode’s Hash Ribbon metric, which tracks miner capitulation by comparing short- and long-term hashrate trends. The indicator inverted on Nov. 29, shortly after bitcoin bottomed near $80,000. When the Hash Ribbon is inverted, miners are typically forced to sell bitcoin to fund operations, adding near term supply pressure to the market.

Capitulation, however, is viewed as a contrarian signal.

VanEck notes that periods of sustained miner stress have historically preceded renewed bitcoin price momentum as inefficient miners exit and selling pressure is eventually exhausted. The Hash Ribbon suggests the worst of capitulation may be nearing an end once the 30 day moving average of hashrate moves back above the 60 day average, a setup that has often aligned with improving price action.

Repeated negative difficulty adjustments reinforce the pressure as a result of falling hashrate. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, which adjusts automatically to keep block times near 10 minutes, is scheduled to drop 4% on Jan. 22 to around 139 trillion (T), marking the seventh negative adjustment in the past eight periods.

Additional selling is also coming from miners pivoting toward AI and high performance computing. Companies such as Riot Platforms (RIOT) are selling bitcoin to fund capital intensive AI and HPC investments, contributing to short term price pressures.