BTC Mining Difficulty Records Final Adjustment of 2025, Set to Rise in January

• Bitcoin mining difficulty rose to 148.2T in the final 2025 adjustment
• Next adjustment expected Jan 8, 2026
• Difficulty forecast to increase to ~149T
• Average block times sit slightly below target
• Rising difficulty pressures miner profitability
• Adjustment mechanism protects decentralization

Bitcoin’s network mining difficulty recorded its last adjustment of 2025, ticking up slightly to 148.2 trillion, according to CoinWarz. The metric, which measures how hard it is to mine a new block, is projected to increase again in early January 2026.

The next adjustment is expected around Jan. 8, 2026, at block height 931,392, with difficulty forecast to rise to roughly 149 trillion. At the time of writing, average block times are about 9.95 minutes, slightly faster than Bitcoin’s 10-minute target — a signal that difficulty is likely to increase to rebalance block production.

Mining Difficulty Hit New Highs in 2025

Bitcoin mining difficulty reached multiple all-time highs throughout 2025, including two sharp increases in September during Bitcoin’s price rally. Those gains were followed by a notable decline in October amid a historic market crash.

As difficulty rises, miners must deploy more computing power and energy to remain competitive, intensifying pressure on margins in an already capital-intensive industry.

Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment is a core part of the protocol, designed to keep block production stable regardless of changes in total network hash power.

The network recalibrates difficulty every 2,016 blocks — roughly every two weeks — based on average block times:

• Blocks mined too quickly → difficulty increases
• Blocks mined too slowly → difficulty decreases

This automatic mechanism ensures that no single miner can suddenly dominate block production by adding a massive amount of computing power in a short time.

Protecting Decentralization and Price Stability

By dynamically adjusting difficulty, Bitcoin reduces the risk of network centralization. Without this safeguard, a miner or coordinated group controlling a majority of hash power could launch a 51% attack, enabling double-spending and undermining trust in the network.

Even short of such an attack, a dominant miner could mine blocks faster, accumulate rewards and dump BTC onto the market — introducing heavy selling pressure and damaging price stability.

With total network hashrate continuing to climb, difficulty adjustments help maintain Bitcoin’s fixed supply schedule, reinforce decentralization and protect its long-term value proposition.