Bitcoin’s seven‑day average hashrate has reached a sustained 1 zettahash per second (1 ZH/s) for the first time, according to Glassnode data, marking a new all‑time high for the network’s mining power.
Hashrate measures the total computational work miners contribute to secure Bitcoin. Using a seven‑day moving average smooths short‑term swings in block production, so a sustained 1 ZH/s signals a durable increase in mining activity rather than a fleeting spike. The network had briefly touched 1 zettahash several times earlier this year, but those moments were short‑lived.
To put the scale in perspective, 1 zettahash equals 1,000 exahashes (EH/s). Bitcoin first crossed the 1 EH/s threshold in 2016; in 2025 the network’s hash power rose from roughly 800 EH/s at the start of the year to today’s 1 ZH/s.
The added mining power is expected to trigger a greater than 7% upward difficulty adjustment within roughly 48 hours, taking network difficulty to about 138.96 trillion (T). Difficulty is retargeted approximately every two weeks to keep average block times near 10 minutes, so a sizable increase makes finding blocks harder for miners.
Why this matters: higher difficulty typically reduces short‑term miner revenue and can push less efficient operations to pause or upgrade equipment, while also strengthening overall network security. Traders and node operators should note the adjustment could slightly affect miner economics and block propagation in the near term.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.