Bitcoin’s mining difficulty just set a new record, climbing 1.42% on Friday night to 129.44 trillion at block height 909,216 — the highest level in the network’s history. That means rewards are now harder to earn than ever.
This is the 11th difficulty increase of 2025, bringing the total rise for the year to 17.73%, despite five separate decreases along the way. The adjustment reflects the average hash rate miners need to solve to mine a block, keeping block times near the 10-minute target regardless of how much computing power is on the network.
With hash rate peaking at 976 EH/s on August 8 before easing to 965.97 EH/s, the network has been running faster than average, triggering the latest increase. So far this year, we’ve seen 16 difficulty changes — 11 up, 5 down — and miners are still facing some of the toughest conditions ever.
The next adjustment is set for August 29, and current data hints at a possible 1.77% decrease, but that could still change. For now, miners are pushing through record difficulty and watching closely for the next move.
