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Bitcoin’s seven-day average hashrate dropped to 915.8 exahashes per second as of September 26, the lowest reading in roughly three weeks. Miners also cut their holdings by 1,530 BTC over that same stretch, pushing total miner reserves down to 1,192,766 BTC.
That’s a meaningful slide from the prior week’s 915.8 EH/s reading — wait, let me be precise. The prior week clocked in at 950.6 EH/s, meaning the network shed a noticeable chunk of raw computing power in just seven days. CoinWarz put the hashrate at roughly 954 EH/s on September 25, which gives you a sense of how much it bounced around before landing at the weekly average. Earlier in September, the network had briefly crossed above one zettahash — a milestone — before pulling back. So the current number isn’t just a soft week. It’s a retreat from a recent high, and it’s the lowest the seven-day average has been since early September.
A “Hashrate Bear Market” Takes Shape
Raphael Zagury, CEO of Twenty One Capital, put a name to what’s happening. He called it Bitcoin’s first “hashrate bear market.” Pretty blunt framing, and probably accurate given the trend lines coming off late 2025’s peak. The broader decline isn’t random noise — it seems tied, at least partly, to a pull toward artificial intelligence computing. Miners with flexible infrastructure are basically asking themselves whether their machines are better deployed hashing Bitcoin or running AI workloads. Some are picking AI.
Hyperscale Data made that choice explicit. The company stopped mining Bitcoin entirely and redirected its resources toward AI computing contracts. That’s not a minor pivot — it’s a full exit from the Bitcoin network. And it’s not the only company rethinking the math.
CleanSpark went a different direction but still stands out. The company sold more Bitcoin than it mined during September, meaning it was drawing down existing reserves rather than just selling fresh output. That kind of treasury behavior tends to raise eyebrows. It could mean the company needed liquidity, was rebalancing, or saw the price as a decent exit point. The source didn’t specify which.
Miner Revenue vs. Miner Costs
Here’s the thing that complicates the bearish read on miners: the Puell Multiple rose to 1.13 during this period. That metric tracks daily miner revenue against its 365-day moving average. A reading above 1.0 means miners are earning more than their yearly average. So on paper, revenue conditions aren’t terrible.
But the Puell Multiple doesn’t touch operating costs. And costs vary wildly. A miner running cheap hydro in Canada faces a completely different equation than one relying on grid power in a country where supply is shaky. Which brings us to Ethiopia.
Ethiopian miners got hit hard. The government cut electricity to Bitcoin mining operations after reservoir inflows dropped significantly, which reduced available power generation. Plans to reassess electricity conditions are apparently set for October — but miners there are basically sitting on hardware they can’t run right now. That’s a real cost, even if it doesn’t show up in the Puell Multiple.
The Ethiopia situation is a reminder that Bitcoin mining’s geography matters enormously. Cheap power is the whole game. When that power disappears — whether because of drought, policy, or grid constraints — operations stall fast. And when enough operations stall in the same region, you start to see it in the global hashrate number.
Network Keeps Producing Blocks
Despite all of it — the hashrate drop, the miner selling, the AI pivots, the Ethiopian power cuts — Bitcoin’s block production didn’t skip a beat. Mempool data confirmed that blocks continued clearing normally on September 26. The daily hashrate did dip below one zettahash on multiple occasions through the month, but the network’s difficulty adjustment mechanism absorbed the variation.
That mechanism recalibrates roughly every 2,016 blocks. It’s designed to keep block times near ten minutes regardless of how much or how little computing power is pointed at the network. So when miners drop off — for whatever reason — the difficulty adjusts downward, and the remaining miners pick up the slack without the chain grinding to a halt.
It’s one of Bitcoin’s more elegant features. And it’s why a “hashrate bear market,” as Zagury framed it, doesn’t translate into a broken network. The blocks keep coming. The transactions keep clearing.
What it does mean is that individual miners face harder economics. Lower hashrate with stable difficulty means each miner’s slice of the reward pool is worth more — but if hashrate is falling because miners are leaving, the ones staying are probably the more efficient operators. Less efficient miners either cut losses or pivot, like Hyperscale Data did.
Miner reserves sitting at 1,192,766 BTC after a 1,530 BTC weekly decline is still an enormous stockpile. The selling pressure from that reduction, spread across exchanges and OTC desks, probably isn’t enough to move markets on its own. But the trend is worth watching, especially if the AI pivot accelerates and more hashrate leaves the network through the rest of the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Bitcoin’s seven-day average hashrate as of September 26?
Bitcoin’s seven-day average hashrate was 915.8 exahashes per second (EH/s) as of September 26, down from 950.6 EH/s the prior week.
Why did Ethiopian Bitcoin miners lose electricity?
Ethiopia cut electricity to Bitcoin miners after a significant drop in reservoir inflows reduced available power generation, with plans to reassess conditions in October.
Why It Matters
The decline in Bitcoin's hashrate and the substantial selling of BTC by miners may indicate increased pressure on the network's security and miner profitability, particularly as miners face rising operational costs amidst fluctuating market conditions. This drop in hashrate can lead to longer transaction confirmation times and heightened volatility, potentially impacting investor sentiment and market dynamics in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem. Additionally, the reduction in miner reserves could signal a shift in market confidence, as miners may be liquidating assets to cover expenses or respond to unfavorable market conditions.
