Bitcoin mining capitulation: difficulty falls 19.9% as miners pivot to AI

Bitcoin mining difficulty has dropped 19.9% from its peak in the third deepest ASIC era decline on record, as miners sell bitcoin at record rates and redirect power capacity toward artificial intelligence data centers. Summary Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen 19.9% from its November 2025 peak of approximately 156 trillion to 126.23 trillion, the third deepest decline since dedicated ASIC hardware replaced graphics processors. Network hashrate declined roughly 12% from its late 2025 peak above one zettahash per second to approximately 868 exahashes per second by late July 2026, with Bitcoin Magazine Pro tracking 287 consecutive days of downward trend. Publicly traded miners sold more than 32,000 BTC in the first quarter of 2026 alone, exceeding their combined sales for all of 2025 and surpassing the 20,000 BTC sold during the 2022 Terra Luna collapse. Major mining companies including Hut 8, Core Scientific, and TeraWulf have signed multi billion dollar AI data center agreements, with Hut 8’s total contracted AI portfolio reaching $26.6 billion. Mining stocks have diverged from bitcoin’s price, with a basket of mining equities gaining 56% in early 2026 while bitcoin fell 17%, as ...