Bitcoin’s estimated network hashrate dropped back to around 974 EH/s on Sept. 1, but that came after a short stretch above 1.03 ZH/s on Aug. 31. The network crossed one zettahash per second several times during August. These figures are estimates. They are inferred from block production, not measured directly in real time. Still, the trend is clear. Mining power is back near record territory.
That sounds like a good thing for Bitcoin’s security. It also means more machines are competing for the same block rewards. Bitcoin’s difficulty adjusts to hold block times near ten minutes. When hashrate rises, difficulty follows. A miner who wants the same share of rewards has to keep adding hashrate.
Miners Are Feeling the Squeeze
The pressure shows up in hashprice. That metric estimates daily revenue per unit of computing power. Hashrate Index recently put the number near $39 per PH/s per day. For miners running older ASICs or paying high electricity rates, the margin is thin.
Public results show the strain. MARA reported an energized mining hashrate of 70.3 EH/s in the second quarter of 2026, up 22% year over year. Revenue fell 27% to $174.9 million. The company mined 2,422 BTC during the quarter and said purchased energy costs at owned sites came to roughly $38,690 per BTC.
Those numbers are hard to ignore. They help explain why mining firms are starting to talk about electricity as the asset, not just Bitcoin. A megawatt of power can run mining machines. It can also run an AI data center.
Power Is the Real Prize
AI data centers and Bitcoin mines are not the same. They need different hardware and different operating environments. But they both need reliable power, grid connections, and cooling. That makes miners attractive partners.
MARA now says it can move power between Bitcoin mining, AI, high-performance computing, and other workloads. The company controlled about 1.9 GW across 19 data centers at the end of June.
Riot Platforms is another example. It signed a 20-year lease covering 191 MW of critical IT capacity at its Rockdale campus. Initial contracted revenue from that agreement is expected to be around $9.1 billion. That is a big number compared with what pure mining can produce.
AI Revenue Is Starting to Replace Mining Income
IREN shows the clearest shift so far. AI Cloud Services revenue rose to $70.5 million in its latest reported quarter, up from $33.6 million. Bitcoin mining revenue fell to $66.7 million from $111.2 million. IREN has said it is taking mining hardware offline and moving power toward AI services, with much of the transition expected by the end of 2026.
This does not mean Bitcoin mining is going away. Miners still mine. But the economics are changing. With hashrate near one zettahash and hashprice around $39, miners need the newest machines, cheap electricity, or another source of income.
For investors, the question is no longer just who runs the most miners. It is which company earns the highest return from the power it controls. AI has become a credible bidder for that same electricity, and that competition is reshaping the mining industry.
