Bitcoin difficulty +5.92%: your home miner earns less
Bitcoin difficulty rose 5.92% to 140.58 T on 16 October. What it costs a home miner, with a worked example and the next adjustment.
On 16 October 2026 at 12:37 UTC, the difficulty of the bitcoin network rose by 5.92%, from 132.72 T to 140.58 T (T stands for 10¹², so 140.58 × 10¹²). It is the third-largest increase of 2026 and the highest level since 5 March. If you mine at home, that means the same miner earns 5.6% less bitcoin per day. The next adjustment, expected around 29 October, currently points to roughly another 6.9% on top.
Bitcoin difficulty in short
- What happened: at block 971,712, difficulty went from 132.72 T to 140.58 T, an increase of 5.92% (16 October 2026, 12:37 UTC).
- Why: the 2,016 blocks of the previous period arrived in 13 days and 5 hours instead of the intended 14 days. The network gained hashrate, and difficulty follows.
- What it costs per miner: at an unchanged price, a miner earns 5.6% less bitcoin per day than in the previous period (1 ÷ 1.0592 = 0.944).
- What is still to come: mempool.space’s estimate for block 973,728 is +6.92%, around 29 October 2026. Together with the increase on 16 October, that is 11.7% less yield per TH/s.
- What does not change: the block reward stays at 3.125 bitcoin per block; difficulty says nothing about the price.
- The downside: for a small home miner, the electricity price decides everything. Above roughly €0.117 per kWh, you lose money with a Bitaxe Gamma, even before counting the purchase price.
What exactly changed on 16 October?
Difficulty determines how much work a miner has to do, on average, to find a valid block. The network adjusts it every 2,016 blocks, aiming for one block every ten minutes, which makes 14 days per period. If blocks come faster, difficulty goes up; if they come slower, it goes down.
The period that began on 3 October at 07:16 UTC lasted until 16 October at 12:37 UTC: 13 days and 5 hours. On average, a block therefore arrived every 9 minutes and 27 seconds. So there was more hashrate than the difficulty had anticipated. According to mempool.space’s hashrate data, at the time of writing on 20 October 2026 that hashrate stands at 1.05 ZH/s, a little over one zettahash (10²¹ hashes) per second.
Only on 19 February (+14.73%) and 27 June (+7.15%) was the increase bigger this year than on 16 October. A difficulty of 140.58 T is the highest level since 5 March 2026, when it stood at 145.04 T. The peak for the year is 8 January at 146.47 T.
What does a home miner earn now?
A miner’s yield follows a fixed formula: bitcoin per day = hashrate (in H/s) × 86,400 × block reward ÷ (difficulty × 2³²). With a block reward of 3.125 bitcoin, 1 TH/s comes to 44.7 satoshi per day at a difficulty of 140.58 T, or roughly 0.032 euros. Transaction fees hardly count: in the 144 blocks from 972,188 to 972,331 inclusive, 0.41% of what miners received came from transaction fees (1.84 of 451.84 bitcoin).
Below are three devices from our article on buying a Bitaxe at three shops, with the hashrate and power as the shops state them. It is a worked example, not a promise: it assumes a price of 72,532 euros per bitcoin (mempool.space, 20 October 2026, 13:10 UTC), an unchanged price and 30 days a month.
What you keep from that depends on your electricity price. The threshold above which you make a loss is the daily yield divided by the kWh the device uses per day:
An example: at a difficulty of 140.58 T, the Gamma earns €1.26 per 30 days and uses 10.8 kWh. At €0.25 per kWh, that electricity costs €2.70, so you are €1.44 down. Only below €0.117 per kWh does it pay, and that is still without counting the purchase price. The €0.25 is an assumption, not a measured price; fill in your own tariff. More on what a home miner earns can be found in Mining bitcoin at home in 2026: what a 12 TH/s miner really earns.
Solo mining with a device like this remains a lottery: the chance of finding a block is small and the outcome is all or nothing. The comparison with renting hashrate is in Rent hashrate or buy a Bitaxe? The sums for 2026.
What does this mean for you as a European investor?
If you already have a miner. First look at your electricity price per kWh and compare it with the break-even price in the table. The power figure the shop gives is an indication; measure it yourself with a plug-in power meter. You can follow difficulty yourself on mempool.space.
If you are considering a miner. Calculate with the difficulty of the next period, not just the current one. With a yield of €1.26 to €7.78 per 30 days, before electricity costs, a purchase price of €87.87 to €445.55 (see the article on prices at three shops) is not quickly earned back.
Electricity prices differ by country. In the EU, consumer tariffs vary widely. Look up your own tariff on your energy bill and calculate with the price per kWh including tax and VAT.
Tax. What you have to declare on mined bitcoin differs by country and is outside the scope of this article. See crypto tax in Europe.
Further reading. Our page on mining explains how difficulty, the block reward and the pool fit together.
What is not certain yet
- The next adjustment. +6.92% is an estimate from mempool.space at the time of writing on 20 October 2026. It changes with every block as the pace of blocks changes; there are still roughly 1,397 blocks to go. The actual adjustment may turn out lower or higher.
- The price. The tables assume 72,532 euros per bitcoin. A different price changes the euros, not the satoshi.
- Your device’s power draw. Shops give different figures for the same chip. Measured consumption differs from the stated figure.
- Why more hashrate arrived. Difficulty shows that blocks came faster, not why. We have not established that cause in the sources.
This article is not investment advice. Crypto can lose a lot of value, and you could lose your entire stake.
Frequently asked questions
What is bitcoin difficulty?
A number that indicates how much computing work is needed to find a valid block. The network adjusts it every 2,016 blocks so that, on average, one block arrives every ten minutes.
How often is bitcoin difficulty adjusted?
Every 2,016 blocks, roughly every two weeks. The latest adjustment was on 16 October 2026 (block 971,712); the next is at block 973,728.
When is the next bitcoin difficulty adjustment?
According to mempool.space’s estimate, around 29 October 2026, at +6.92%. That date shifts with the pace of blocks.
Does my Bitaxe earn less now that difficulty is rising?
Yes. At an unchanged price, it earns 5.6% less bitcoin per day than in the previous period. In euros, it also depends on the price.
Is mining bitcoin at home still worth it?
That depends on your electricity price. With a 15 W Bitaxe Gamma, the break-even is about €0.117 per kWh, at a difficulty of 140.58 T and a price of 72,532 euros. Above that, you lose money on electricity alone.
Sources
Read on 20 October 2026.
- mempool.space: difficulty adjustments, last twelve (16 October 2026, block 971,712)
- mempool.space: estimate for next adjustment (as of 20 October 2026)
- mempool.space: hashrate, last month (as of 20 October 2026)
- mempool.space: block reward and transaction fees, last 144 blocks (block 972,188 to 972,331 inclusive)
- mempool.space: bitcoin price (20 October 2026, 13:10 UTC)
- Cryptocode: Bitaxe price, three shops with hashrate and power according to the shops (14 October 2026)