Bitcoin mining margins remain under pressure as lower revenue and higher operating costs narrow the list of viable operators.
Summary
- CoinShares said falling hashprice has pushed part of the Bitcoin mining fleet below profitability levels.
- Older mining machines face the most pressure as electricity costs rise above sustainable operating thresholds.
- Bitcoin difficulty dropped sharply in March, offering some relief while miner margins remained under pressure.
A new CoinShares report says part of the global mining fleet now sits below profitability, with older machines and higher power costs facing the most pressure.
CoinShares said Q4 2025 was the hardest quarter for Bitcoin miners since the April 2024 halving. The firm said lower Bitcoin prices and near-record network hashrate pushed hashprice to five-year lows and lifted the weighted average cash cost to produce one Bitcoin among listed miners to about $79,995 in Q4 2025.
The report said hashprice dropped further to about $29 per PH/s/day in Q1 2026. CoinShares added that current mining economics do not support a broad hardware refresh cycle, as weaker returns continue to pressure balance sheets and daily cash flow across the sector.
CoinShares said the current revenue level makes several machine models unworkable at common power rates. The report stated that any miner running hardware below an S19 XP at electricity costs of 6 cents per kilowatt-hour or more is losing money at a hashprice near $30 per PH/s/day.
The firm estimated that this group accounts for about 15% to 20% of the global Bitcoin mining fleet. That places the current squeeze on operators with older fleets, weaker efficiency, or less favorable power agreements, while larger miners with newer hardware and cheaper energy retain more room to operate.
Moreover, hashrate Index said USD hashprice rose 4.9% in the week to March 23, reaching $33.65 per PH/s/day from $32.08. Even so, the same report said that at about $33 per PH/s/day, hashprice remains at or below breakeven for many miners depending on machine type and operating costs.
The network has already started to reflect that strain. Hashrate Index said Bitcoin’s latest difficulty adjustment on March 20 cut difficulty by 7.76% to 133.79 trillion, reducing the work needed to mine a block and giving some relief to miners that stayed online.
CoinShares sees more stress if Bitcoin stays below key levels
CoinShares head of research James Butterfill said,
“If prices were to stay below US$80k for the remainder of the year, we forecast the hashprice to continue to fall.”
He added that in that scenario, “the hashprice would more likely flatline” as miners switch off unprofitable rigs and network hashrate falls.
CoinShares also said higher-cost miners may face more capitulation in the first half of 2026 unless Bitcoin recovers. The report said the sector is moving toward operators with structural advantages, including low-cost power, better machine efficiency, and the ability to shift part of their business toward AI and data center services.
