Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Beta Rises to 0.62 While Most Operators Stay Online

Bitcoin mining difficulty has become more sensitive to price changes this year as a growing share of operators run near breakeven, JPMorgan said in a report last week. Over the past six months, the beta of mining difficulty relative to bitcoin price moves has risen to 0.62, the bank said. The figure indicates that network computing power now reacts more quickly to market conditions.

JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote that mining economics have worsened in 2026, with bitcoin trading below its estimated production cost for five consecutive months. The bank currently places that cost at about $78,000. Bitcoin was trading around $64,700 at publication time on June 22, 2026.

The analysts said the gap has left roughly 20 percent of miners unprofitable, according to CoinShares' first-quarter mining report. Publicly traded mining companies sold more than 32,000 BTC in the first quarter, exceeding their combined sales for all of 2025, the report said.

When prices fall below production costs, higher-cost operators tend to shut down equipment, causing hashrate to decline and mining difficulty to adjust lower.

Mining difficulty dropped 10 percent in the second week of June, the second decline of that size this year. JPMorgan said larger and more frequent adjustments are likely to continue as long as bitcoin remains below its estimated production cost. Miners have announced tens of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing deals to offset weaker margins, the bank noted.

The 2024 bitcoin halving preceded the current period of pressure.