Bitcoin Hashrate Nears Record 976 EH/s—Is This the Next Bull Run Catalyst?

Mining power inches toward all-time highs as the network flexes its muscles.

Hashrate heats up

Bitcoin’s computational backbone is revving up again—just 3% shy of its 976 EH/s peak set earlier this year. Miners are plugging in rigs faster than Wall Street can say "risk-adjusted returns."

Why it matters

When the network’s firepower grows, it’s not just about security. This is the market’s most brutal truth-teller—no Excel jockey can fake these numbers. Either miners see profit ahead, or they’re burning cash for fun (spoiler: they’re not).

Watch the dominoes

Higher hashrate typically precedes price surges—but this time, energy costs could bite harder than a bear market. Will miners hodl through the squeeze, or will we see another Great GPU Exodus?

Meanwhile in traditional finance…

Bankers are still trying to short Bitcoin with one hand while filing ETF applications with the other. Some things never change.

In Brief

• The Bitcoin network records a hashrate rebound, reaching 966 EH/s on August 18, just 10 EH/s shy of its historic record.
• This increase in computing power occurs despite an unfavorable economic context for mining specialists.
• The hashprice drops 7 % over five days, significantly reducing mining operation profitability.
• This gap between technical performance and economic profitability raises questions about the sustainability of the current mining model.

A hashrate close to the peak

The bitcoin network’s computing power recorded an impressive rebound this August, after a significant drop, reaching 966.08 EH/s on August 18, according to HashrateIndex data.

This is a notable performance, especially since it occurred just four days after a temporary dip below 900 EH/s. The network is now less than 10 EH/s away from its absolute peak of 976 EH/s, set earlier this year.

This comeback, even as the Bitcoin price fluctuates around $116,000, seems to reflect a massive mobilization of hardware and energy resources by mining players.

Indeed, this rebound is explained by a series of cyclical and structural factors :

• The quick restart of some mining farms, probably after summer maintenance or energy adjustments ;

• The ongoing improvement of next-generation ASICs, more efficient and less energy-consuming ;

• An effective adaptation to market conditions despite the fall in hashprice ;

• Relative stability of the average block validation time, around 10 minutes, allowing a difficulty adjustment estimated at +0.13 % for August 22.

Hashprice Falling and Reduced Fees

Beyond the network’s technical performance, the economic situation of mining specialists has significantly deteriorated in recent days. The hashprice, a key indicator representing the estimated revenue per petahash per second (PH/s) per day, dropped by 7 % in just five days.

On August 13, it stood at $60.61/PH/s/day. It has now fallen back to $56.37. This drop directly affects the margins of mining companies, already strained by lower transaction fees, which now represent only 0.54 % of block rewards over the last 24 hours.

Such revenue compression occurs in an environment where the flagship crypto price stagnates, while fixed costs (electricity, hardware, maintenance) continue to rise.

In this context, only the most efficient operators, equipped with the latest generation machines or located in low energy cost regions, still seem able to maintain their profitability.

For smaller or less optimized players, this pressure could lead to shutdowns, or even hardware sales at a loss.

This concentration of hashrate in the hands of fewer players could raise concerns about network decentralization and its resilience against potential attacks. While the Bitcoin protocol’s technical robustness does not seem questioned in the short term, mining’s economic viability remains under pressure. How far will mining companies be able to absorb the profitability decline before a structural network rebalancing becomes necessary ?

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