Bitcoin network hashrate: what is it and how does it affect mining profitability
Bitcoin network hashrate is the total computing power of all miners participating in the search for blocks. In May 2026, the network reached ~745 EH/s. The higher the hashrate, the more difficult it is to mine a block on one ASIC - and the more important it is to choose a pool with fair payouts. POOL BTC helps to compare pools and calculate the real net BTC/day, taking into account the current difficulty.
In short: The network hashrate determines the difficulty and directly affects your daily production. With an increase from 700 to 745 EH/s, the income of one ASIC S21 Pro (212 TH/s) at the same tariff decreases by approximately 6%. You can check the current calculation in POOL BTC calculator.
What is hashrate and in what units is it measured?
Hashrate is the number of SHA-256 calculations per second. Units: H/s, KH/s, MH/s, GH/s, TH/s, PH/s, EH/s (10^18 H/s). Modern ASICs operate at the level of 200-400 TH/s, and the entire network already has hundreds of exahashes. Mining difficulty is recalculated every 2016 blocks (~2 weeks) so that the average interval between blocks remains 10 minutes, regardless of the total hashrate.
Data about the current hashrate is published on mempool.space and in real-life pools time.
How does an increase in hashrate affect the profitability of one ASIC?
Direct proportion: if the network hashrate doubles and your ASIC does not change, your share of production drops by half. For example:
| Network hashrate | S21 Pro share (212 TH/s) | BTC/day (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 700 EH/s | 3.03×10⁻⁷ | ~0.000131 |
| 745 EH/s | 2.85×10⁻⁷ | ~0.000123 |
| 800 EH/s | 2.65×10⁻⁷ | ~0.000115 |
Therefore, it is important to consider not only the hashrate of your ASIC, but also the network dynamics. The faster the network grows, the less sense it makes to keep old equipment with an efficiency above 20 J/TH.
Why is the hashrate growing even after the halving?
Halving 2024 reduced the reward from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC per block, but the hashrate continued to grow. Reasons: new efficient ASICs (S21, M60S, M66S), cheap electricity in Kazakhstan, the USA and the UAE, as well as an increase in the price of BTC, which partially compensated for the decrease in reward. The miners, who were in the red due to the high tariff, sold the equipment - it was bought by operators with access to $0.04-0.06/kWh.
What does “pool luck” mean and what does hashrate have to do with it?
Pool luck is the ratio of actually found blocks to the expected number for the period. The higher the hashrate of the pool, the more stable its luck and the smoother the payments to miners. Small pools may not find a block for several days - this is called "variance". On POOL BTC you can filter pools by size and payout type (FPPS/PPLNS) to choose the best option. Read more about payment schemes in the article FPPS vs PPLNS.
How to track network hashrate and plan the purchase of ASIC?
Key metrics for the purchase decision:
- Current hashprice ($/TH/day) - shows how much 1 TH/s brings right now.
- Difficulty trend for 3-6 months in advance - estimate the increase in hashrate.
- ASIC price and electricity tariff - calculate payback in calculator.
- Efficiency (J/TH) - compare models in our ASIC review.
Hashprice in May 2026 is ~$46/PH/day. With S21 Pro (212 TH/s) and a tariff of $0.06/kWh, the net profit is about $3.8/day before depreciation.
Frequently asked questions about hashrate
How does hashrate affect the time a block is found?
Not directly - the average time remains 10 minutes, because the difficulty is automatically adjusted every 2016 blocks. If the hashrate increases, the next epoch will be more difficult and the speed will return to 10 minutes.
Is it possible to predict the increase in difficulty?
Partially. Current data on the speed of finding blocks allows you to predict the next change in difficulty with an accuracy of several percent. The services mempool.space and BTC.com publish forecasts in real time.
What will happen to mining if the hashrate drops?
The difficulty will decrease in the next epoch - each remaining miner will begin to mine more BTC. Historically, this happened after the mining ban in China in 2021: hashrate dropped by ~55%, but recovered after 3-4 months.
How does my pool hashrate compare to the network hashrate?
Pool share of network hashrate = (pool hashrate / network hashrate). Large pools (Foundry USA, AntPool) have 15-25% of the network, small ones - less than 1%. Compare the current shares on POOL BTC.
Bottom line: how hashrate determines your mining strategy
Hashrate growth is a normal state of healthy Bitcoin. From 2020 to 2026, the network grew from 120 to 745 EH/s, but the rate also increased from $10,000 to $100,000+. For a miner, it is important not to try to predict the hashrate, but to work with what is controlled: the electricity tariff, the choice of equipment, the choice of pool. With an increase in complexity by 10%, income decreases by approximately 9% - this is compensated by tariff optimization by 1-2 cents/kWh. Use POOL BTC calculator to calculate with the current hashrate.