The largest Bitcoin miners by market capitalization experienced a sharp drop in production in January as both the mining difficulty and the hash rate rose.

Data from Farside indicates that miners collectively produced 3,267 BTC in January, marking a 15% decline from December 2024.

The table below shows that Riot Platforms was the only major publicly traded miner to report an increase, recording a modest 2.1% month-over-month rise.

In contrast, Marathon Digital, CleanSpark, Iris Energy, Core Scientific, Cipher Mining, Bitfarms, and Hut 8 all saw declines in their mining output for the reporting period.

Why Bitcoin miners production fell

Market observers noted that the decrease in production stems from the rising mining difficulty levels.

On Feb. 9, the difficulty level jumped 5.6% at block height 883,008, reaching an all-time high of 114.1 trillion. This increase reversed a dip to 108.11 trillion, making it more challenging for miners to solve blocks and earn rewards.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s hash rate surged to a record 845.42 EH/s. While this strengthens the network’s security, it also signals increasing competition in the sector.

The higher mining difficulty and hash rate show increased competition among miners who now require higher computational power and energy consumption to mine a BTC block. The trend also indicates an influx of new miners into the ecosystem.

As a result, Bitcoin miners’ earnings have been significantly impacted. Data from the Hashrate Index shows that mining profitability, or hashprice, dropped to $54 per petahash daily (PH/day). This figure is near its one-month low of $52 recorded in mid-January.

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