Mid-Tier #Bitcoin Miners Rise Post-Halving, Challenging Industry Leaders

The Bitcoin mining landscape is shifting as mid-tier miners rapidly close the gap with top players following the 2024 halving. Firms like Cipher Mining, Bitdeer, and HIVE Digital have significantly increased their realized hashrate, narrowing the lead held by MARA Holdings, CleanSpark, and Cango, according to The Miner Mag.

In September 2025, the top public miners collectively reached 326 EH/s, more than double last year’s figure, accounting for nearly one-third of Bitcoin’s total network hashrate. Realized hashrate — a measure of actual mining performance — is becoming a crucial metric for evaluating efficiency and earnings ahead of Q3 results.

As competition intensifies, miners are taking on record debt levels, which surged to $12.7 billion from $2.1 billion a year earlier (VanEck). Many are also diversifying into AI and high-performance computing to offset lower margins after the halving, which cut Bitcoin’s block reward to 3.125 $BTC .

Mid-tier miners’ aggressive expansion signals a more balanced and competitive post-halving era for the Bitcoin mining industry.