Bitcoin mining hashrate expected to slow after 2024 challenges

The Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) mining industry is poised for a slowdown in hashrate growth due to a combination of factors, including reduced mining difficulty and declining preorders for mining hardware.

As of January 27, 2025, the mining difficulty decreased to 108.1 trillion, marking the first reduction of the year.

Current hashrate levels are approximately 832 exahashes per second (EH/s), reflecting a 2.12% retracement in mining difficulty over the past week.

This decline in difficulty comes as mining companies face intense competition and high operational costs, particularly following the block subsidy reduction that occurred during the 2024 halving.

Data from TheMinerMag indicates that demand for application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) has diminished in the latter half of 2024, suggesting that the rapid growth in mining competition may be easing.

Despite diversifying into artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing data centers to offset declining profits, many mining companies still struggled to keep pace with Bitcoin's price increases.

The HashRate Index shows that 20 out of 25 publicly listed mining firms reported declines in share prices throughout 2024.

The release of China's DeepSeek AI model further impacted the market, leading to significant sell-offs in tech stocks and raising concerns about profitability in AI-related investments.

While Bitcoin miners have adopted strategies such as corporate treasury management to capture long-term price appreciation, these measures have not fully mitigated the pressures they face.

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $104,168.