CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost has just issued a notable warning about the state of the Bitcoin mining industry: the total network hashrate has fallen below its annual Medium , signaling that the industry is entering a significant correction phase.
According to Darkfost, the last time a similar phenomenon occurred was in 2021 – when China banned Bitcoin mining, causing a sharp drop in global hashrate. The difference this time is that the cause isn't a sudden policy change, but rather the accumulation of continuous pressure: since the winter snowstorms in the US earlier this year, the network-wide hashrate has consistently remained below 1 ZH/s (zettahash per second) – reflecting the fact that many mining operations are struggling or have proactively scaled back their activities.
Is the risk to the network or the risk to the Miners ?
Darkfost clarifies a key point: the hashrate drop does not pose a significant risk to the Bitcoin network itself; the difficulty adjustment mechanism will automatically balance to ensure stable block creation times. However, this is a clear signal of increasing economic pressure within the mining industry as operating costs exceed the profitability threshold for many small and Medium sized Miners .
Increasingly fierce competition is forcing Miners to make difficult choices: temporarily shut down their machines to avoid losses, or restructure their business models to improve efficiency. Bitfarms – one of the largest listed Bitcoin mining companies in North America – is cited by Darkfost as a prime example, having recently made significant business adjustments in this context.
The outlook for the peach industry in 2026
