Bitcoin News: AI Compete for the Grid as Bitcoin Hashrate Hits 4-Month Low

Key Insights:

  • In the latest Bitcoin news, Bitcoin hashrate dropped below 1 Zetahash per second to hit a four-month low.
  • The dip reflects a shift in priorities across the Bitcoin mining sector.
  • This shift involves firms transitioning to AI infrastructure and high-performance computing.

In the latest Bitcoin news, the Bitcoin hashrate dropped below 1 zetahash per second. Thus, it hit a four-month low. The pullback came just as miner profitability had started to improve.

Even so, the decline may not be purely about Bitcoin. Some experts have attributed the slip to the rise in competition for grid power fueled by the AI rush.

Bitcoin News: Bitcoin Hashrate Slips to Lowest Level Since September

According to recent Bitcoin news, the seven-day average Bitcoin hashrate is 993 EH/s, based on data from Hashrate Index. Over the weekend, the rate dropped under 1,000 EH/s, or the 1 zetahash mark.

Since then, the pullback has become clearer. The seven-day average is down nearly 15% from its recent high of 1,157 EH/s, recorded on Oct. 19.

Bitcoin Hashrate Data by Hashrate Index
Bitcoin Hashrate Data by Hashrate Index

The dip is a reflection of the priority shift across the Bitcoin mining sector, said StandardHash CEO Leon Lyu. He explained that some miners are redirecting power from Bitcoin to AI computing because the margins look better.

That pressure has been building for a while. Last year, TheMinerMag described 2025 as the toughest margin period miners have ever faced. The expert pointed to shrinking revenues and rising debt as two major headwinds. Many miners have now leaned into AI and high-performance computing.

Still, Leon Lyu suggested the headline hashrate may not tell the full story. He said Bitmain, the largest maker of Bitcoin mining machines, could be adding capacity quietly through secondary channels and private partnerships. If that is happening, the real network hashrate may be higher than what public data shows.

Miner Profitability Has Taken a Hit

The takeaway is straightforward. He said some manufacturers are switching on surplus machines they still hold. Even so, the overall flow of hashrate is still moving out, which he said shows how hard profitability has become for miners.

He also argued that AI is no longer a side story. In his view, it is now a direct rival to electricity and is already competing with Bitcoin mining for space on the grid.

Hashrate is sliding even as mining gets less demanding. Since Nov. 12, 2025, Bitcoin’s difficulty has dropped four times, falling from 156 trillion to 146.5 trillion. That shift means miners need less computing power to find a block.

At the same time, miner economics have shown signs of improvement. Over the past month, Bitcoin hashprice has climbed from $37.15 to about $40 per petahash per second per day. That rise points to stronger revenue potential for miners, even as the network’s total hashrate pulls back.

Bitcoin News: NIP Group Reaches 9.66 EH/s in Installed Mining Capacity

In recent months, most of the Bitcoin news spotlight has stayed on listed Bitcoin miners adding more hashrate or transitioning to AI infrastructure. Yet one of the fastest-growing mining builds has expanded with far less noise.

NIP Group, listed on Nasdaq under NIPG, shared an update on Thursday. The $130 million parent company of the esports brand Ninjas in Pyjamas said its mining arm produced 151.4 BTC during its first operating stretch from September to November 2025. At today’s prices, that output translates to roughly $14.2 million in revenue.

The company noted how its installed mining capacity rose to 9.66 EH/s just after partially closing a previously announced deal. It promised to add another 1.64 EH/s later this month. Once everything is fully switched on, NIPG expects a total capacity of about 11.3 EH/s.

That scale would put the firm in the top 20 publicly traded Bitcoin miners by disclosed hashrate. It would also make NIPG the largest in the Middle East and North Africa by the capacity it has reported.

Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2026/01/19/bitcoin-news-ai-compete-for-the-grid-as-bitcoin-hashrate-hits-4-month-low/