Mining difficulty: what it is and how it is recalculated

Author: Yegor 13 November 2026 Updated 13 November 2026 4 min read

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Mining difficulty is a number that tells you how hard it is to find a new block. The network recalculates it by itself according to how much hashrate is taking part in mining: when hashrate rises, difficulty goes up; when it falls, difficulty goes down. This is why a new Bitcoin block is found on average every 10 minutes – whether a thousand machines are mining or a million.

Summary

Bitcoin recalculates difficulty once every 2,016 blocks, i.e. roughly every two weeks.
Higher difficulty = fewer coins for the same hashrate. The earnings of 1 TH/s fall in roughly the same proportion as difficulty rises.
On Bitcoin, a single adjustment is limited to at most four times up or a quarter down.
Other networks (Kaspa, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin) recalculate difficulty continuously after every block.

How Bitcoin difficulty is recalculated

A miner looks for a block hash that is lower than the target value. Difficulty expresses how many times harder today's target is than it was for the very first block. At the beginning of November 2026 it stood at around 148.4 trillion (148.4 T).

After every 2,016 blocks, the network compares how long it actually took to mine them with the planned 14 days (2,016 × 10 minutes):

Blocks came faster than every 10 minutes → hashrate has grown → difficulty goes up.
Blocks came more slowly → hashrate has dropped → difficulty goes down.
The change is proportional to the deviation: if the period took 7% longer, difficulty falls by roughly 7%.

A real-world example: in the period from 29 Oct 2026, blocks were found on average roughly every 10.7 minutes. That is why the adjustment at block 975,744, expected on 13 Nov 2026, was estimated to cut difficulty by approximately 6–8%. It would be the biggest reduction since June (−10.1% at the time). You can find current values in our mining statistics.

Why difficulty matters to miners

The block reward is fixed (3.125 BTC on Bitcoin since the halving in 2024), but it is shared among all miners. If difficulty rises by 5%, the same miner at the same BTC price mines about 5% less. If it falls, it mines more.

Today, 1 TH/s on Bitcoin earns approximately 0,64 Kč per day (recalculated every hour, last updated 13. 11. 2026). For illustration, our own calculation as of 13 Nov 2026:

Scenario (BTC price unchanged)	Earnings of 1 TH/s per day	Antminer S21+ Hyd 358 TH/s per day
Difficulty 148.4 T (as of 13 Nov 2026)	0.642 Kč	230 Kč
Difficulty −7%	0.690 Kč	247 Kč
Difficulty +5%	0.611 Kč	219 Kč

From running our hosting we know that lower difficulty often follows a wave of shutdowns – older machines get switched off once mining stops paying off. That helps the remaining miners in the short term. The decisive factor, however, remains the price of electricity: on our hosting it starts from 1,15 Kč per kWh. We explain how to calculate electricity costs in the entry ASIC miner power consumption and J/TH.

How other networks do it

Network	Target block time	When difficulty changes
Bitcoin	10 minutes	every 2,016 blocks (~2 weeks)
Litecoin	2.5 minutes	every 2,016 blocks (~3.5 days)
Bitcoin Cash	10 minutes	after every block (ASERT algorithm, since 11/2020)
Kaspa	0.1 s (10 blocks per second)	continuously after every block

Continuous recalculation protects smaller networks from block production stalling for days when a large miner leaves.

Related terms

Hashrate – the total computing power of the network (around 1,000 EH/s for Bitcoin in November 2026).
Hashprice – how much a unit of hashrate earns per day (e.g. Kč per 1 TH/s).
Halving – cutting the block reward in half.
Proof of Work – the principle that difficulty is built on.

What next

Current ASIC miner profitability – how much a specific machine earns today.
Bitcoin difficulty rose by 5.92% – what the last big increase meant.
ASIC miner hosting – mining with cheaper electricity.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What is mining difficulty?

A number that determines how hard it is to find a new block. The network adjusts it by itself according to the total hashrate of miners so that blocks are produced at the planned pace – on Bitcoin, on average every 10 minutes.

How often does Bitcoin difficulty change?

Once every 2,016 blocks, i.e. roughly every two weeks. The exact date of the next adjustment is shown, for example, on mempool.space.

What does higher difficulty mean for my miner?

At the same BTC price it mines less. If difficulty rises by 5%, the earnings of the same machine fall by roughly 5%. Conversely, when difficulty falls, it mines more.

Why does difficulty fall?

Because hashrate has left the network – for example, less efficient machines were switched off after a price drop, or miners scaled back operations due to expensive electricity. Blocks then arrive more slowly and the network lowers the difficulty.

Does difficulty change for other cryptocurrencies too?

Yes, every proof-of-work network has its own rules. Litecoin, like Bitcoin, recalculates after 2,016 blocks; Bitcoin Cash and Kaspa adjust continuously after every block.

This text was prepared with the help of AI. Facts, figures and procedures were checked by Yegor.