CoinShares, an asset management firm, has released its Bitcoin mining report for the first quarter of 2026, warning that mining economics have tightened to a degree that is pushing a significant share of the global mining fleet into unprofitable territory. The report identifies hashprice — a key measure of miner revenue — as having dropped to approximately $28 per petahash per second per day in February 2026. This represents a new post-halving low and has compressed margins across the sector.
Data from mining analytics provider Hashrate Index shows that hashprice has since recovered to around $33 per petahash per second per day, though this level remains among the lowest recorded over the past five years. Despite the partial recovery, CoinShares estimates that between 15% and 20% of the global Bitcoin mining fleet is currently operating at a loss. Operators running older hardware or facing elevated electricity costs are particularly exposed to the current environment.
The report attributes the squeeze to a combination of lower Bitcoin prices, rising network difficulty, and weak transaction fees, all of which are weighing on miner revenue simultaneously. CoinShares suggests the downturn is not purely cyclical in nature. Instead, it is increasingly concentrating viability among operators with structural advantages, such as access to low-cost power or more energy-efficient mining equipment.
The strain on miners has already begun to appear in network-level data. On March 20, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty declined by approximately 7.7%, one of the sharpest single drops recorded this year. A reduction in difficulty lowers the computational effort required to produce a block, providing some degree of relief to miners that remain active on the network.
CoinShares noted that miners operating mid-generation hardware are currently running below breakeven, especially those paying electricity rates of around $0.05 per kilowatt-hour or higher. The report specifies that mid-generation fleets require access to sub-five-cent power to remain cash-profitable, while operators using the latest-generation equipment can still maintain meaningful margins at standard industrial electricity rates.
James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, wrote that sustained weakness in Bitcoin prices could force miners to shut down unprofitable rigs, which in turn may slow hashrate growth and help stabilize returns for remaining operators. He stated that if prices were to remain below $80,000 for the rest of the year, hashprice would likely continue to decline. In that scenario, he added, hashprice would more likely flatline as weaker participants exit the network.
The broader implication of the report is that the current environment is accelerating a consolidation dynamic within the mining industry. Operators without access to cheap electricity or modern hardware face mounting pressure to either upgrade their infrastructure or reduce their exposure. CoinShares expects these conditions to persist as long as Bitcoin prices remain subdued and network difficulty stays elevated.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
