Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Plummets 9.13% as Hashrate Drops 100 EH/s

Falling prices and shrinking margins pushed the Bitcoin mining difficulty down 9.13% on Saturday dropping to 134.82 trillion from 148.36 trillion, according to Bitcoin News.

The adjustment occurred on block 975744 mined by Foundry USA. This drop marked the third-largest reduction of 2026 out of 23 difficulty adjustments recorded so far this year, with 12 of those adjustments trending downward.

Bitcoin’s hash rate held above 1,000 exahashes per second (EH/s) before market turbulence caused roughly 100 EH/s to vanish from the network. That computing power left during the first two weeks of November as the market slump stretched block generation times past the usual ten-minute target.

The network adjustment sped up block generation following the drop. The average block generation interval stood at 8 minutes and 45 seconds.

High-end mining rigs continue to grapple with razor-thin profit margins. Calculations based on a $0.10 cost per kilowatt-hour show that the top five most profitable Bitcoin mining devices generate estimated daily revenues between $4.37 and $8.74 as of November 15, 2026.

Bitmain’s Antminer S23 Hydro 3U took the top spot in profitability on Saturday, producing 1.16 petahashes per second while consuming 11,020 watts of power. That output translates to roughly $8.74 in estimated daily revenue.

Bitdeer’s Sealminer A4 Ultra Hydro secured second place with a speed of 886 terahashes per second and $6.79 in daily revenue. Antminer S23e Hydro 2U followed in third place with 865 terahashes per second and about $5.48 in daily earnings.

Antminer S23 XP Hydro generated $5.39 per day, while Antminer S23 Hyd produced $4.37 daily to round out the top five. Operators with marginal profitability are leaving the market as rewards shrink to pocket-change levels, leaving the sector to entities with cheap power and strong balance sheets.