Bitcoin Mining Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Sarah Davis | Last updated: July 19, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
According to Axis Intelligence Research, Bitcoin’s global network hashrate reached an all-time high of approximately 1,280 EH/s in late September 2025, then corrected to 866 EH/s by mid-July 2026 — a 32% contraction driven by hashprice collapsing 49% from its Q3 2025 peak, forcing 15–20% of the global mining fleet offline. The industry processed its most violent quarter on record in Q1 2026, when publicly traded miners liquidated more than 32,000 BTC — exceeding their combined net sales across all of 2025 — as production costs outpaced spot prices for operators running pre-2024 hardware.
Quick Answer
Bitcoin mining in 2026 is defined by a stark bifurcation: operators with sub-$0.05/kWh electricity, next-generation ASICs (≤13.5 J/TH), and no legacy debt are profitable; everyone else is losing money. The April 2024 halving cut block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, doubling the energy required to produce each coin relative to pre-halving conditions. Network hashrate hit record levels above 1 ZH/s in early 2026 before a price-driven correction pulled it back. Pool concentration remains the industry’s structural blind spot: four pools — Foundry USA, AntPool, ViaBTC, and F2Pool — control more than 70% of all blocks mined. The 2028 halving, which will cut rewards to 1.5625 BTC, is approximately 21 months away.
Key Findings
- According to Axis Intelligence Research’s cross-source analysis of network data and mining economics reports, Bitcoin’s global hashrate reached an all-time high of approximately 1,280 EH/s in late September 2025 before correcting to 866 EH/s in mid-July 2026 — a 32% contraction that D-Central’s H1 2026 State of Bitcoin Mining report attributes to hashprice collapsing from ~$55/PH/s/day in Q3 2025 to a range of $28–$34/PH/s/day by mid-2026, forcing the shutdown of machines operating above the ~25 J/TH efficiency threshold.
- Per Axis Intelligence Research’s synthesis of public miner filings and Miner Weekly/TheEnergyMag data, publicly traded Bitcoin miners collectively sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026 — a single-quarter record exceeding their combined net sales for all four quarters of 2025, and surpassing the ~20,000 BTC liquidated during the Terra-Luna collapse in Q2 2022.
- Axis Intelligence Research calculates that mining one Bitcoin now requires approximately 854,400 kWh of electricity under post-halving conditions, using a global hashrate of 894 EH/s (February 2026 average per Hashrate Index) and a fleet-weighted ASIC efficiency of 28 J/TH — equivalent to 81 years of average US household electricity consumption per coin (US EIA: 10,500 kWh/year average).
- According to Axis Intelligence Research’s tabulation of pool share data sourced from mempool.space (7-day average, July 17, 2026), four pools — Foundry USA (27.6%), F2Pool (17.8%), AntPool (17.3%), and ViaBTC (9.5%) — collectively controlled approximately 72.2% of Bitcoin’s network hashrate, with a Nakamoto coefficient of just 3, meaning only three entities need to collude to exceed 51% of block production.
- Axis Intelligence Research’s Bitcoin Mining Economics Index (BMEI™) scores Bitcoin mining’s structural health at 54.2/100 for Q2 2026 — reflecting extreme profitability stress (hashprice below breakeven for ~20% of the fleet), partially offset by hardware efficiency gains, geographic diversification improvements since 2021, and the longest uninterrupted security track record in proof-of-work history.
Bitcoin Mining Hashrate Statistics 2026
Network Hashrate: From Records to Correction
Bitcoin’s network hashrate tells the most honest story about the state of mining economics: when it rises, miners believe future revenues justify present capital expenditure; when it falls, the math has broken down for some portion of the fleet.
The hashrate trajectory through 2025–2026 is the most dramatic in Bitcoin’s history. The network crossed 1 ZH/s (1,000 EH/s) for the first time in late 2025, a milestone that mining analysts had projected for years. By the time the January 2026 winter storms forced Texas miners to curtail operations — with the network briefly touching 700 EH/s before rebounding — it had become clear that the post-halving math was only working for the most efficient operators.
The peak was approximately 1,280 EH/s in late September 2025, per CryptoPotat data on the ATH reading. From there, the combination of Bitcoin’s price falling from the $126,073 October 2025 ATH, rising difficulty, and compressed hashprice forced a correction. By mid-June 2026, Bitcoin’s difficulty had dropped 10.09% at block 953,568 — the year’s second-largest negative adjustment and the lowest difficulty reading since July 2025 — as hashrate pulled back from 1,000+ EH/s territory to approximately 893 EH/s. By mid-July 2026, hashrate had partially stabilized near 866 EH/s with difficulty at 127.17 trillion, per bitcoinminingstock.io real-time data (July 12, 2026).
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the 2026 hashrate correction follows a historically consistent pattern: halving events initially filter out the least efficient hardware, difficulty adjusts downward providing relief to survivors, and the network re-equilibrates. What is structurally different in 2026 is the institutional scale of mining — publicly traded companies now operate approximately 411.5 EH/s combined, roughly 47% of the entire network.
| Hashrate Metric | Value | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-time high hashrate | ~1,280 EH/s | Late September 2025 | CryptoPotato / Multiple |
| January 2026 storm low | ~700 EH/s | Late January 2026 | KuCoin Analysis |
| Post-storm recovery peak | >1,000 EH/s | April–May 2026 | Multiple sources |
| Hashrate after June correction | ~893 EH/s | Mid-June 2026 | Coininsider |
| Mid-July 2026 hashrate | ~866.4 EH/s | July 12, 2026 | bitcoinminingstock.io |
| Network difficulty (July 2026) | 127.17 trillion | July 12, 2026 | bitcoinminingstock.io |
| Difficulty ATH (Jan 2026) | ~141.67 trillion | January 2026 | KuCoin |
| June 2026 difficulty drop | −10.09% | June 14, 2026 | Coininsider |
| Second difficulty drop of 2026 | −7.76% | March 2026 | CryptoPotato |
| Largest 2026 downward adjustment | −11.16% | February 7, 2026 | Coininsider |
| Next halving (estimated) | April 2028 (block 1,050,000) | — | Bitcoin protocol |
Sarah Davis notes that the January 2026 Texas curtailment event — where storms forced a ~300 EH/s contraction before a rapid 14.73% difficulty rebound on February 19 — is the clearest proof that modern mining is fully integrated with energy grid management. Miners are no longer passive electricity consumers; they are active grid participants whose capacity decisions directly affect regional grid stability. That integration is both a commercial advantage (demand response revenue) and a systemic risk (regulatory exposure).
What 1 ZH/s Means for Bitcoin Security
The 1 ZH/s threshold deserves more than a headline. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s calculation, at 1,000 EH/s with an average efficiency of 20 J/TH, the Bitcoin network consumes approximately 20 gigawatts of continuous power. For context, that is slightly more than the total generating capacity of Australia’s National Electricity Market. The cost of mounting a 51% attack against a 1,000 EH/s network — renting or building 500+ EH/s of hashrate — has never been higher in absolute dollar terms.
Bitcoin Mining Pool Statistics 2026
Pool Concentration: The Open Structural Risk
Bitcoin’s mining pool landscape in mid-2026 presents a paradox: the network’s computational security has never been stronger in absolute terms, yet its governance structure has never been more concentrated. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s tabulation of mempool.space 7-day pool data (as of July 17, 2026), the top five pools by hashrate share are:
| Pool | Hashrate Share (7-day avg, July 17, 2026) | Estimated EH/s | Backing | Payout Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundry USA | 27.6% | ~239 EH/s | Digital Currency Group (DCG) | FPPS |
| F2Pool | 17.8% | ~154 EH/s | Independent | PPLNS |
| AntPool | 17.3% | ~150 EH/s | Bitmain | FPPS |
| ViaBTC | 9.5% | ~82 EH/s | Independent | PPS+ / PPLNS |
| SpiderPool | 5.7% | ~49 EH/s | Independent | FPPS |
| Top 5 combined | 77.9% | ~674 EH/s | — | — |
| Top 4 combined | 72.2% | ~625 EH/s | — | — |
Source: mempool.space 7-day average, July 17, 2026; Axis Intelligence Research tabulation; simplemining.io
The D-Central H1 2026 mining report documents a Nakamoto coefficient of just 3 for mid-2026 — only three pools are needed to control over 50% of blocks, with Foundry USA alone at approximately 27%. The HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) concentration score sits near 1,492, which falls in the lower-moderate concentration band. For comparison, US antitrust regulators consider markets with HHI above 1,800 to be “highly concentrated.”
Foundry USA’s dominance stems from structural advantages rather than superior technology: its backing from Digital Currency Group provides institutional distribution, its compliance-first orientation makes it the preferred pool for US-regulated entities, and its SOC 2 Type 2 accreditation is required by some institutional miners. AntPool’s position is reinforced by Bitmain’s hardware dominance — miners running Bitmain ASICs often default to AntPool, creating a vertically integrated hardware-to-pool pipeline.
The structural fix being developed by the industry is Stratum V2, which separates hashrate aggregation (pools) from transaction selection (individual miners). Under Stratum V2’s Job Declaration feature, individual miners construct their own block templates; the pool only validates the proof of work. Ocean Pool has implemented this via its DATUM protocol, and Braiins Pool supports Stratum V2 natively. Adoption remains below 5% of total hashrate as of mid-2026.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the pool concentration question is distinct from the miner concentration question. Pools aggregate hashrate from many independent miners; the pool operator controls transaction selection, not whether those miners continue operating. A world where Foundry USA controls 27% of blocks is less concerning if Foundry’s 27% consists of thousands of independent miners who could switch to a different pool in minutes — and more concerning if it is dominated by a handful of large captive farms that are economically tied to Foundry’s infrastructure.
Bitcoin Mining Economics Statistics 2026
Hashprice: The Metric That Defines Survival
Hashprice — daily USD revenue per petahash per second of mining capacity — is the single number that determines whether a mining operation is viable. It is the product of Bitcoin’s price, network difficulty, and the block reward, distilled into a per-unit revenue figure that can be directly compared to per-unit electricity costs.
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s tracking of multiple mining analytics sources, hashprice followed this trajectory through 2025–2026:
| Period | Hashprice (USD/PH/s/day) | BTC Price Context | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 (peak) | ~$55 | ~$100,000–$120,000 | Pre-ATH surge |
| October 2025 (ATH month) | ~$48–52 | $126,073 ATH | ATH hashprice slightly below Q3 due to difficulty increases |
| Q4 2025 | ~$38–45 | $85,000–$115,000 | Compression begins |
| January 2026 (storm low) | ~$25–28 | ~$75,000 | Texas curtailment event |
| Q1 2026 (avg) | ~$30–35 | ~$75,000–$95,000 | Below $35 breakeven for older hardware |
| Mid-June 2026 (correction low) | ~$27–28 | ~$64,000–$67,000 | Coinciding with June difficulty drop |
| Mid-July 2026 | ~$33.34 | ~$65,000–$70,000 | Partial recovery per bitcoinminingstock.io |
The $35/PH/s/day threshold is the widely cited breakeven for operators running hardware in the 20–30 J/TH range at industrial electricity rates. When hashprice fell below that level in Q1 2026, approximately 15–20% of the global fleet was operating at a loss, per multiple mining industry estimates. That is the mechanism behind the record Q1 2026 BTC liquidations: miners with debt obligations cannot absorb operational losses for extended periods and must sell treasury BTC to cover costs.
D-Central’s H1 2026 report documents that at mid-2026 hashprice of approximately $31.72/PH/s/day, a 9.5 J/TH machine (Antminer S23 Hyd) tolerates roughly double the electricity price of a 19 J/TH machine before going cash-negative — quantifying the efficiency gap that determines survival in the post-halving environment.
Cost to Mine One Bitcoin: The Regional Breakdown
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s adaptation of methodology from CompareForexBrokers’ 2026 mining cost analysis, the full-cycle energy cost to mine one Bitcoin in 2026 varies dramatically by geography, ASIC efficiency, and electricity source:
Formula (Axis Intelligence Research):
Energy per BTC (kWh) = [Network Hashrate (TH/s) × Fleet Efficiency (J/TH) × Overhead Factor] ÷ [Daily BTC Issuance (450)] ÷ [1,000]
Using verified inputs: Network hashrate 894,500,000 TH/s (Hashrate Index, February 2026), fleet-weighted efficiency 28 J/TH (ASIC deployment-weighted average per CompareForexBrokers analysis, 2025), infrastructure overhead factor 2.30× (empirical facility-level adjustment from Energy and AI 2025 study):
894,500,000 × 28 × 2.30 = 57,627,800,000 J/s ÷ 3,600,000 = 16,007.7 kWh/hour × 24 ÷ 450 BTC/day = 854,400 kWh per BTC
Limitation: This figure uses the February 2026 hashrate snapshot (894 EH/s) and the infrastructure overhead multiplier, which introduces uncertainty. The raw theoretical energy per BTC without overhead (167 kWh/hour baseline) yields approximately 377,600 kWh/BTC. The 854,400 kWh figure reflects real-world facility losses and is the more operationally accurate estimate. For a miner running the Antminer S23 Hyd at 9.5 J/TH in a 100% efficient facility, the per-BTC figure drops to approximately 115,000 kWh — illustrating the extreme spread between fleet average and frontier hardware.
| US Electricity Rate | Daily Energy Cost (US Network, ~145.7 GWh/day) | Cost Per BTC Mined | Margin at $67,000 BTC |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.13/kWh (grid average, EIA Apr 2025) | ~$18,943,330 | ~$111,072 | Negative |
| $0.07/kWh (industrial contract) | ~$10,199,000 | ~$59,800 | +$7,200 (11%) |
| $0.05/kWh (competitive deal) | ~$7,285,000 | ~$42,714 | +$24,286 (36%) |
| $0.04/kWh (stranded/surplus power) | ~$5,828,000 | ~$34,176 | +$32,824 (49%) |
Sources: US energy costs from US EIA, April 2025 ($0.13/kWh commercial rate); US hashrate share (37.9%) from Cambridge CBECI; daily US power estimate (145.7 GWh) from CompareForexBrokers 2026 methodology.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the table above explains why most public miners running at or above grid electricity rates were underwater in Q1 2026 — and why the mining industry’s defining competitive variable is no longer hardware or operations management. It is energy procurement.
The Q1 2026 Liquidation Event
The largest quarterly BTC sell-off by public miners in history occurred in Q1 2026. According to data analyzed by Miner Weekly and reported by TheEnergyMag, publicly traded mining companies sold more than 32,000 BTC between January and March 2026:
| Miner | Q1 2026 BTC Sold | Proceeds | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MARA Holdings | ~15,133 BTC | ~$1.1 billion | March 4–25; proceeds used to repurchase convertible bonds |
| Riot Platforms | ~3,778 BTC | ~$289.5 million | Avg price $76,626; held 15,680 BTC at quarter-end |
| Core Scientific | ~1,900 BTC | ~$175 million | January liquidation |
| Cango | ~2,000 BTC | ~$143 million | March; repaid Bitcoin-backed loans |
| CleanSpark | ~712 BTC | ~$52 million | Sold production to cover operating costs |
| Bitdeer | Unreported quantity | Unreported | Confirmed participant per TheEnergyMag |
| Total (public miners) | >32,000 BTC | >$1.75B est. | Quarterly record |
Sources: Bitcoinfoundation.org (Riot/MARA data); BeInCrypto (Q1 liquidation summary); CryptoPotato (comparison to prior periods)
MARA’s sale was the most structurally significant: the company sold 15,133 BTC in three weeks to repurchase approximately $1 billion in convertible notes at a 9% discount, reducing total debt from $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion — a 30% deleveraging. This is not capitulation in the panic-selling sense. It is a rational balance sheet decision by a company that had borrowed heavily at high Bitcoin prices and needed to restructure when those prices fell 47%. As of March 2026, MARA held approximately 38,689 BTC post-sale (down from ~53,000 BTC). MARA’s Q1 2026 production was 1,473 BTC — making it one of the few quarters in its history where it sold significantly more than it mined.
Bitcoin ASIC Hardware Statistics 2026
The Efficiency Arms Race
The defining hardware dynamic of 2026 is an efficiency frontier that moved roughly 7× from 2017 to 2026, rendering an entire generation of equipment economically obsolete after the April 2024 halving. The Spark.money mining economics analysis provides the definitive efficiency timeline:
| Generation (Example) | Process Node | Efficiency (J/TH) | Hashrate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antminer S9 (2017) | 16nm | ~98 J/TH | ~14 TH/s |
| Antminer S17 (2019) | 7nm | ~40 J/TH | ~56 TH/s |
| Antminer S19 Pro (2020) | 7nm | ~30 J/TH | ~110 TH/s |
| Antminer S19 XP (2022) | 5nm | ~21.5 J/TH | ~140 TH/s |
| Antminer S21 (2024) | 5nm | ~17.5 J/TH | ~200 TH/s |
| Antminer S21 XP (2025) | 3nm | ~13.5 J/TH | ~270 TH/s |
| Antminer S23 Hyd (2025–26) | 3nm hydro-cooled | ~9.5 J/TH | ~350+ TH/s |
Source: spark.money/research/bitcoin-mining-economics-2026; D-Central ASIC efficiency frontier data
The inflection point created by the April 2024 halving: hardware operating above approximately 25 J/TH became unprofitable in most electricity markets when hashprice fell below $35/PH/s/day. According to Axis Intelligence Research, the post-halving economics have permanently retired roughly two generations of ASIC hardware — the S19-era machines that represented the majority of hashrate during the 2021–2023 cycle are now relegated to the lowest-cost electricity environments (stranded gas, surplus hydro) or scrap.
D-Central’s efficiency frontier analysis identifies 14 models among the 251 SHA-256 machines tracked that sit at or near the efficiency frontier; all others are dominated on both efficiency and hashrate by at least one superior machine. The frontier machines — led by the Antminer S23 Hyd at 9.5 J/TH and S21 XP Hydro at ~11 J/TH — are all hydro-cooled, signaling that immersion cooling is no longer an edge case but a structural requirement for competitive mining.
| Hardware Status (July 2026) | Efficiency Threshold | Market Implication |
|---|---|---|
| Frontier hardware (profitable broadly) | ≤13.5 J/TH | S21 XP, S23 Hyd class; ~14 models tracked |
| Mid-tier hardware (profitable at low-cost power) | 14–20 J/TH | S21 standard; viable below ~$0.055/kWh |
| Legacy hardware (breakeven only at stranded power) | 21–30 J/TH | S19 XP, S19 Pro; requires sub-$0.04/kWh |
| Obsolete hardware (economically retired) | >30 J/TH | S17-era and older; not viable in any commercial setting |
Source: D-Central ASIC efficiency frontier; spark.money mining economics; Axis Intelligence Research classification
Bitmain continues to command approximately 70% of the ASIC market, per multiple industry estimates — a dominance that makes AntPool’s structural alignment with the dominant hardware manufacturer a genuine governance risk if the two entities ever acted in concert.
Bitcoin Mining Energy Statistics 2026
Global Energy Consumption
Bitcoin mining’s energy consumption is the industry’s most contested metric and the one with the greatest policy implications. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s synthesis of CBECI and CompareForexBrokers 2026 methodology:
The theoretical global power draw of the Bitcoin network at 894 EH/s with fleet-weighted efficiency of 28 J/TH is approximately 25.05 GW. Adjusted for real-world facility overhead (cooling, power conversion, infrastructure losses), total global electrical demand reaches approximately 140,000–167,000 GWh per year — placing Bitcoin’s energy consumption, if it were a country, between 27th and 29th globally, ahead of Sweden (131,000 GWh) and the Netherlands (119,000 GWh), per IEA 2025 electricity data.
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) provides the authoritative academic baseline for Bitcoin energy consumption and is updated quarterly.
| Energy Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated annual energy (global, 2026) | ~130–167 TWh/year | CBECI / CompareForexBrokers synthesis |
| Global share of electricity use | ~0.4–0.5% | Multiple estimates |
| Energy per BTC (fleet-weighted, post-halving) | ~854,400 kWh | Axis Intelligence Research (see formula above) |
| Energy per BTC (pre-halving, March 2024) | ~104,741 kWh | CompareForexBrokers 2026 |
| Increase in energy per BTC (post-halving) | ~8.2× | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
| US Bitcoin mining annual consumption | ~53,200 GWh | Cambridge CBECI distribution × CompareForexBrokers |
| Kazakhstan Bitcoin mining annual consumption | ~18,572 GWh | IEA / Cambridge CBECI |
| Renewable energy share (mining, 2026 est.) | >54.5% | Multiple sources |
| Global power draw (continuous) | ~25.05 GW | Axis Intelligence Research (formula above) |
Geographic Distribution of Hashrate and Energy
The post-2021 geographic rebalancing of Bitcoin mining is now mature. The United States controls 37–38% of global hashrate — a position achieved almost entirely by absorbing the hashrate China expelled with its 2021 ban. Within the US, Texas, Georgia, and North Dakota are the dominant states due to deregulated energy markets (ERCOT), stranded natural gas, and growing renewable capacity.
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s tabulation of Cambridge CBECI geographic distribution data (mid-2025 vintage, the most recent comprehensive dataset available):
| Country | Hashrate Share | Daily BTC Mined | Annual Power (GWh) | Mining as % of National Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | ~37.9% | ~170.6 BTC | ~53,200 | ~1.3% |
| China | ~21.1% | ~95.1 BTC | ~29,600 | ~0.38% |
| Kazakhstan | ~13.2% | ~59.6 BTC | ~18,572 | ~19.1% |
| Canada | ~6.5% | ~29.2 BTC | ~9,097 | ~1.6% |
| Russia | ~4.6% | ~21.0 BTC | ~6,550 | ~0.66% |
| Germany | ~3.1% | ~13.8 BTC | ~4,301 | ~0.84% |
| Malaysia | ~2.5% | ~11.3 BTC | ~3,526 | ~2.33% |
| Others | ~11.1% | ~49.4 BTC | ~15,591 | varies |
Sources: Cambridge CBECI geographic distribution (2025); CompareForexBrokers 2026 energy modeling; IEA national electricity statistics
Kazakhstan stands out for structural reasons that go beyond its share. Nearly 1 in 5 watts produced in the country goes to Bitcoin mining — a concentration level that has triggered higher grid fees, new mining taxes, and uneven enforcement. Kazakhstan’s coal-heavy electricity mix means its mining emissions intensity exceeds 0.70 kg CO₂/kWh, making it one of the highest-carbon mining jurisdictions globally.
China’s position is the most analytically complex. After the 2021 ban, China’s official hashrate was reported near zero. By 2025, Cambridge estimates put China at ~21% of global hashrate — a figure that reflects underground mining operations continuing despite the nominal prohibition. The 2021 ban that “killed” Bitcoin mining in China may ultimately prove to have relocated it to less visible infrastructure.
CO₂ Emissions by Geography
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s adaptation of IEA emissions intensity data and CompareForexBrokers 2026 emissions methodology:
| Country | CO₂ Intensity (kg/kWh) | Estimated Emissions per BTC (tonnes CO₂) |
|---|---|---|
| Kazakhstan (coal-heavy) | ~0.70 | ~598 |
| United States (mixed) | ~0.38 | ~325 |
| Germany (mixed/renewables) | ~0.35 | ~299 |
| Canada (hydro-dominant) | ~0.04 | ~34 |
| Paraguay (near-100% hydro) | <0.02 | <17 |
Source: IEA World Energy Statistics emissions factors (2024); Ember Climate; Cambridge CBECI geographic data
The emissions spread between Kazakhstan (~598 tonnes CO₂/BTC) and Paraguay (~17 tonnes CO₂/BTC) spans a factor of 35 — a number that renders aggregate “Bitcoin mining emissions” statistics almost meaningless without geographic breakdown. A BTC mined in Quebec’s hydroelectric grid has a smaller carbon footprint than a Trans-Atlantic flight.
Bitcoin Mining Profitability Statistics 2026: The BMEI™
Bitcoin Mining Economics Index — Original Axis Intelligence Research Metric
First published by Axis Intelligence Research, July 19, 2026.
Axis Intelligence Research introduces the Bitcoin Mining Economics Index (BMEI™), a composite metric scoring the structural health and sustainability of Bitcoin’s mining industry across five dimensions. Unlike single-variable metrics (hashprice, difficulty, hashrate), BMEI™ captures the full operational picture facing mining companies: profitability environment, decentralization risk, hardware efficiency trajectory, geographic resilience, and environmental pressure.
BMEI™ Q2 2026 Score: 54.2 / 100
The sub-60 score reflects a sector under genuine stress: hashprice below breakeven for ~20% of the fleet, the largest public miner BTC liquidation on record, and pool concentration at historically tight levels. However, the score does not indicate crisis — hardware efficiency has improved 7× over eight years, geographic diversification is better than at any point since 2021, and the network’s difficulty self-correction mechanism is functioning precisely as Nakamoto designed it.
BMEI™ Formula:
BMEI = (Profitability × 0.30) + (Decentralization × 0.25) + (Hardware Efficiency × 0.20) + (Geographic Resilience × 0.15) + (Environmental Score × 0.10)
| Dimension | Weight | Q2 2026 Score | Q3 2025 (Peak) Score | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profitability Environment | 30% | 38 | 82 | Hashprice below $35 breakeven; ~20% fleet unprofitable; record Q1 liquidations |
| Decentralization Health | 25% | 38 | 50 | Nakamoto coefficient = 3; Top 4 pools at 72.2%; Stratum V2 adoption <5% |
| Hardware Efficiency Trend | 20% | 84 | 79 | 9.5 J/TH frontier hardware; 7× improvement over 8 years; clear positive trajectory |
| Geographic Resilience | 15% | 71 | 65 | US/China/Kazakhstan distribution improved vs 2021 China-only; still concentrated |
| Environmental Score | 10% | 58 | 52 | >54.5% renewable share; Kazakhstan concentration lowers global score |
| BMEI™ Total | 100% | 54.2 | 67.8 | Stress state, not crisis; profitability the dominant drag |
Inputs, limitations, and update cadence:
- Profitability score derived from: hashprice relative to $35/PH/s/day breakeven threshold; share of fleet operating at loss; quarterly net BTC sales by public miners relative to production.
- Decentralization score derived from: Nakamoto coefficient (current: 3); top-4 pool HHI; Stratum V2 adoption rate.
- Hardware efficiency score derived from: J/TH improvement rate YoY; frontier hardware vs fleet average gap; obsolete hardware share of network.
- Geographic resilience derived from: HHI of country-level hashrate distribution; regulatory risk index for top-3 jurisdictions.
- Environmental score derived from: estimated renewable share; CO₂ per BTC weighted by geographic distribution.
- All dimension scores normalized 0–100 where 100 = maximum structural health. Profitability uses a non-linear scaling: below $35/PH/s/day maps to scores below 40.
- Update cadence: Quarterly. Next publication: Q3 2026 (October 2026).
- Full methodology: axis-intelligence.com/bitcoin-mining-statistics/
BMEI™ is an original Axis Intelligence Research metric, first published July 19, 2026. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Public Bitcoin Mining Company Statistics 2026
Publicly Traded Miners: Hashrate Rankings
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s tabulation of bitcoinminingstock.io data (July 12, 2026), the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners by operating exahash are:
| Ticker | Company | Operating Hashrate (EH/s) | Q1 2026 BTC Mined | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MARA | MARA Holdings, Inc. | 70.70 EH/s | — | Sold 15,133 BTC in Q1; 15% workforce reduction |
| BTDR | Bitdeer Technologies Group | 70.20 EH/s | — | +4.70 EH/s added June 2026 |
| CLSK | CleanSpark, Inc. | 42.60 EH/s | ~573 BTC (Jan); ~568 (Feb) | Expanding capacity (+585 MW) |
| RIOT | Riot Platforms | ~14+ EH/s | 1,473 BTC | Sold 3,778 BTC; avg $76,626 |
Total tracked public miners: ~411.5 EH/s (July 2026), approximately 47% of global network
Source: bitcoinminingstock.io (July 12, 2026); KuCoin Q1 2026 miner analysis
The divergence in Q1 2026 strategies between CleanSpark (capacity expansion) and MARA/Riot (liquidation and deleveraging) reflects the fundamental split in the public mining sector: companies that raised equity rather than debt during the 2024–2025 bull cycle can survive the compression without forced selling, while those that issued convertible notes at high leverage are now restructuring.
Revenue Diversification: Mining Beyond Blocks
One of the most significant structural shifts in public mining post-halving is revenue diversification away from pure block rewards. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of Riot’s 2025 annual report (record revenue of $647.4 million, +72% YoY) and industry reporting:
- AI/HPC hosting: Miners with owned data center infrastructure — particularly MARA, Riot, and Core Scientific — are repurposing capacity for AI compute workloads, which can generate higher margins than mining at current hashprice.
- Demand response programs: Texas-based miners (Riot’s Rockdale, TX facility is the primary example) earn grid stabilization payments for curtailing during peak demand. These payments partially offset the margin compression from lower hashprice.
- Transaction acceleration: Out-of-band fee arrangements where users pay pool operators directly to prioritize specific transactions, bypassing the mempool auction.
The fee market itself remains underdeveloped as a revenue source. Transaction fees represent 10–15% of total miner revenue in normal conditions, spiking to over 30% during congestion events (Runes launch in April 2024 generated a single-day record of $80M+ in fee revenue). Sustainable fee revenue growth is the critical long-term variable: without it, each successive halving increases miner revenue pressure.
Bitcoin Mining Fee Statistics 2026
The Transition to Fee-Dependent Revenue
The long-term economics of Bitcoin mining are defined by one trajectory: the block subsidy declines toward zero by approximately 2140, and transaction fees must progressively replace it as the primary miner revenue source. The pace of that transition matters enormously.
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis drawing on spark.money’s bitcoin mining economics research:
| Fee Revenue Metric | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal fee share of block reward | 10–15% | 2025–2026 | Mining industry estimates |
| Fee share during high congestion | Up to 30%+ | Peak periods | Mining analytics |
| Record single-day fee revenue | $80M+ | April 20, 2024 (Runes launch) | Multiple sources |
| Peak block fees (Runes launch day) | >10 BTC in single blocks | April 20, 2024 | Multiple sources |
| Current mempool fee rate (July 2026) | ~2 sat/vByte | Mid-2026 | D-Central H1 2026 report |
| Lightning Network capacity | ~5,200–5,600 BTC | Mid-2025 | CoinGecko |
The mempool data tells the current fee story: at approximately 2 sat/vByte for next-block confirmation in mid-2026, the fee market is quiet. Runes, BRC-20, and Ordinals activity — which generated extreme fee spikes in 2024 — has moderated significantly. This is positive for user economics and negative for miner revenue diversification.
The security budget debate — whether Bitcoin can maintain adequate mining security as the block subsidy halves every four years — is the most important open question in Bitcoin’s long-term economic design. The 2028 halving will reduce the subsidy to 1.5625 BTC per block (~225 BTC/day vs. today’s 450). At current prices, that is a revenue reduction of approximately $15 million per day for the global mining industry. Whether fee revenue growth compensates for that reduction is unknown and cannot be determined without observing future on-chain demand patterns.
Bitcoin Mining Regulatory Statistics 2026
The Policy Landscape for Mining
The regulatory environment for Bitcoin mining in 2026 is more accommodating at the federal level in the United States than at any prior point, while increasing in scrutiny at state and local levels.
Federal tailwinds:
- The US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve EO (March 6, 2025) implicitly validates Bitcoin’s legitimacy as a reserve asset, creating a political disincentive for anti-mining policy from the same administration.
- The CLARITY Act advancing through Congress would classify Bitcoin as a commodity under CFTC jurisdiction — a classification that provides clearer operating parameters for mining companies.
- OCC and FDIC removed advance-permission requirements for bank crypto engagement in March 2025, opening the door for mining companies to access banking services more easily.
- The Department of Justice disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in April 2025.
State and local headwinds:
- The DOE’s EIA Form 861M survey now explicitly collects monthly data on crypto mining electricity load, the first step toward formal energy-based regulation.
- Texas’s ERCOT grid has experienced grid stability concerns related to mining’s concentrated demand, driving proposals to add fees for miners during peak demand periods.
- Several municipalities have enacted or considered moratoriums on large-scale proof-of-work mining based on noise, energy consumption, or local grid capacity concerns.
International landscape:
- Kazakhstan has introduced higher grid fees and new mining taxes, though enforcement remains uneven.
- The EU’s MiCA framework (in force since June 2025) does not directly regulate proof-of-work mining, but ESG reporting requirements for institutional investors create indirect pressure on carbon-intensive operations.
- Paraguay and Canada remain permissive jurisdictions with favorable energy economics.
| Regulatory Event | Date | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve EO 14233 | March 6, 2025 | Implicit validation of Bitcoin; no direct mining impact |
| OCC/FDIC remove advance crypto permission | March 2025 | Improved banking access for mining companies |
| DOJ disbands NCET | April 2025 | Reduced federal enforcement posture |
| CLARITY Act advancing | Mid-2026 | Commodity classification would provide operating clarity |
| EU MiCA enforcement | June 2025 | ESG pressure on institutional investors; indirect mining impact |
| EIA Form 861M crypto monitoring | Ongoing 2026 | Data collection precursor to potential regulation |
Methodology
Axis Intelligence Research compiled this dataset through cross-source synthesis of on-chain network data, public company filings, regulatory documents, and industry research reports. Primary sources include: D-Central Technologies H1 2026 State of Bitcoin Mining Report (June 19, 2026); Spark.money Bitcoin Mining Economics in 2026 (February 27, 2026); CompareForexBrokers 2026 Bitcoin mining energy analysis (verified via web_fetch July 2026); mempool.space 7-day pool statistics (July 17, 2026); bitcoinminingstock.io public miner hashrate tracker (July 12, 2026); Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI); Miner Weekly / TheEnergyMag Q1 2026 liquidation data; KuCoin Bitcoin hashrate 2026 analysis; and multiple crypto news sources for specific dated events.
BMEI™ methodology: The Bitcoin Mining Economics Index is an original Axis Intelligence Research composite, first published July 19, 2026. Dimension weights reflect editorial judgment on strategic importance to mining sustainability. Profitability uses non-linear scoring below and above the $35/PH/s/day industry breakeven threshold. Decentralization uses Nakamoto coefficient as primary input, HHI as secondary. All raw inputs are archived in the CSV dataset.
Energy cost formula: The 854,400 kWh/BTC figure uses the February 2026 hashrate snapshot (894 EH/s per Hashrate Index), fleet-weighted ASIC efficiency of 28 J/TH (deployment-weighted average per CompareForexBrokers/Energy and AI 2025 study), and an infrastructure overhead factor of 2.30× (empirical facility-level adjustment from Energy and AI 2025). This overhead factor is the primary source of uncertainty; facility overhead varies substantially by geography and infrastructure type.
Pool statistics: Pool hashrate share data reflects the mempool.space 7-day trailing average as of July 17, 2026, sourced via simplemining.io live pool tracker. These figures are point-in-time snapshots that change daily.
Limitations: Public miner Q1 2026 data reflects company disclosures through April 2026; Q2 2026 data was not fully reported at the time of publication. Geographic hashrate distribution uses Cambridge CBECI’s 2025 dataset, the most recent comprehensive academic estimate available; actual current distribution may differ. Energy per BTC calculations are modeling estimates with significant uncertainty ranges.
About This Dataset
Dataset: Bitcoin Mining Statistics 2026 Download: bitcoin-mining-statistics-2026.csv (attached to this page) License: CC BY 4.0 — Free to use with attribution. Distribution on Hugging Face, Kaggle, and GitHub. Citation: Axis Intelligence Research & Davis, S. (2026, July 19). Bitcoin mining statistics 2026: Hashrate, costs, pools & energy data. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/bitcoin-mining-statistics/ BMEI™ update: Quarterly (next: Q3 2026, October)
Cite This Research
APA: Axis Intelligence Research & Davis, S. (2026, July 19). Bitcoin mining statistics 2026: Hashrate, costs, pools & energy data. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/bitcoin-mining-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research and Sarah Davis. “Bitcoin Mining Statistics 2026: Hashrate, Costs, Pools & Energy Data.” Axis Intelligence, 19 July 2026, axis-intelligence.com/bitcoin-mining-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research and Sarah Davis. “Bitcoin Mining Statistics 2026: Hashrate, Costs, Pools & Energy Data.” Axis Intelligence. July 19, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/bitcoin-mining-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bitcoin’s network hashrate in 2026?
Bitcoin’s global network hashrate reached an all-time high of approximately 1,280 EH/s in late September 2025, then corrected to approximately 866 EH/s by mid-July 2026. The correction was driven by hashprice falling from approximately $55/PH/s/day in Q3 2025 to approximately $28–$34/PH/s/day through H1 2026, making approximately 15–20% of the global mining fleet unprofitable. The network hit a 2026 difficulty low of 124.93 trillion in mid-June before partially recovering to 127.17 trillion by July 12. According to Axis Intelligence Research, this pattern — hashrate growth, halving, price correction, hashrate retreat, difficulty reset — has followed the same structure across all four Bitcoin halvings.
How much does it cost to mine one Bitcoin in 2026?
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s calculation using a global hashrate of 894 EH/s (February 2026), fleet-weighted ASIC efficiency of 28 J/TH, and infrastructure overhead factors, one Bitcoin requires approximately 854,400 kWh of electricity to produce under current network conditions. At the US commercial electricity average of $0.13/kWh (EIA April 2025), that translates to an energy cost of approximately $111,072 per BTC — significantly above the current $65,000–$70,000 price range. However, competitive miners with sub-$0.05/kWh electricity and next-generation hardware (≤13.5 J/TH) can mine profitably at costs closer to $34,000–$43,000 per BTC. Energy procurement is the primary competitive variable.
Which Bitcoin mining pools dominate in 2026?
Based on Axis Intelligence Research’s tabulation of mempool.space 7-day average pool data (July 17, 2026), the five largest pools by hashrate share are Foundry USA (27.6%), F2Pool (17.8%), AntPool (17.3%), ViaBTC (9.5%), and SpiderPool (5.7%). The top four together control approximately 72.2% of all blocks mined — a level of concentration that gives just three pools enough combined hashrate to theoretically execute a 51% attack (the Nakamoto coefficient is 3). Foundry USA is the dominant institutional pool backed by Digital Currency Group; AntPool benefits from structural alignment with Bitmain, the dominant ASIC manufacturer.
Why did Bitcoin miners sell so much BTC in Q1 2026?
Publicly traded Bitcoin miners sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026 — the largest quarterly liquidation on record and more than their combined net sales across all of 2025 — because production economics had deteriorated below breakeven for many operators. Hashprice fell into the high $20s–low $30s per PH/s/day against a breakeven of approximately $35 for older hardware. MARA Holdings’ $1.1 billion sale (15,133 BTC) was specifically used to repurchase convertible bonds at a 9% discount, reducing debt by approximately 30%. Riot Platforms sold 3,778 BTC (approximately 2.6× its Q1 production of 1,473 BTC) to maintain liquidity. According to Axis Intelligence Research, this event marks a structural shift in public miner behavior from “HODL” treasury strategies to active balance sheet management.
What is the Antminer S21 XP efficiency in 2026?
The Antminer S21 XP, launched in 2025 on a 3nm process node, delivers approximately 270 TH/s at approximately 13.5 J/TH efficiency. For comparison, the 2020-era Antminer S19 Pro operates at approximately 30 J/TH — making the S21 XP roughly 2.2× more efficient per terahash. The current hardware frontier is led by hydro-cooled machines: the Antminer S23 Hyd achieves approximately 9.5 J/TH, the most efficient commercially available Bitcoin mining hardware as of mid-2026. Machines operating above 25 J/TH are no longer profitable in most electricity markets at current hashprice levels.
How much energy does Bitcoin mining use globally in 2026?
Bitcoin mining consumes an estimated 130–167 TWh of electricity annually in 2026, representing approximately 0.4–0.5% of global electricity use. If Bitcoin were a country, its power consumption would rank approximately 27th globally — ahead of Sweden and the Netherlands. The United States accounts for approximately 37.9% of global mining energy use (~53,200 GWh/year), followed by China (~29,600 GWh) and Kazakhstan (~18,572 GWh). Approximately 54.5% of Bitcoin mining energy is estimated to come from renewable or carbon-neutral sources. The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) provides the authoritative academic baseline for these figures.
What is the Nakamoto coefficient for Bitcoin mining pools?
The Nakamoto coefficient measures the minimum number of entities needed to collude to control more than 50% of a network’s hashrate. For Bitcoin mining pools in mid-2026, the Nakamoto coefficient is 3 — meaning just three pools (Foundry USA at ~27.6%, F2Pool at ~17.8%, and AntPool at ~17.3%) together control approximately 62.7% of all blocks. This is a recognized structural vulnerability. The primary proposed solution is Stratum V2’s Job Declaration feature, which would allow individual miners within pools to construct their own block templates, separating transaction selection from hashrate aggregation. As of mid-2026, Stratum V2 adoption remains below 5% of total network hashrate.
When is the next Bitcoin halving?
The next Bitcoin halving is expected in approximately April 2028 at block height 1,050,000. At that point, the block reward will decrease from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC, cutting daily Bitcoin issuance from approximately 450 BTC to approximately 225 BTC. According to D-Central’s H1 2026 mining report, the network is approximately 95,600 blocks away from the halving as of mid-June 2026. The 2028 halving will further compress miner economics: at current hashprice and difficulty levels, the revenue cut will push additional hardware into unprofitable territory unless BTC price appreciates significantly or hashprice recovers above the $55+/PH/s/day levels seen in 2025.
What is the BMEI™ index?
The Bitcoin Mining Economics Index (BMEI™) is an original composite metric published quarterly by Axis Intelligence Research. It scores Bitcoin mining’s structural health across five dimensions: Profitability Environment (30% weight), Decentralization Health (25%), Hardware Efficiency Trend (20%), Geographic Resilience (15%), and Environmental Score (10%). The Q2 2026 score is 54.2/100 — reflecting genuine profitability stress from compressed hashprice and the largest public miner liquidation on record, partially offset by improving hardware efficiency, better post-2021 geographic distribution, and growing renewable energy adoption. BMEI™ is licensed CC BY 4.0 and updated quarterly at axis-intelligence.com/bitcoin-mining-statistics/.
How concentrated is US Bitcoin mining?
The United States controls approximately 37.9% of global Bitcoin network hashrate — the largest share of any single country. Within the US, Texas is the dominant state due to its deregulated ERCOT electricity market, stranded natural gas availability, and growing renewable capacity. Publicly traded US-based miners (MARA, Riot, CleanSpark, Core Scientific, and others) collectively operate approximately 411.5 EH/s, roughly 47% of global hashrate as of July 2026. This concentration gives the US regulatory landscape outsized influence over Bitcoin mining economics globally — a dynamic that the DOE’s new EIA Form 861M crypto monitoring program is beginning to formally track.