Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Decreases Amid Record BTC Sales by Public Miners

Bitcoin mining difficulty experienced a decline on Saturday, reflecting the ongoing challenges faced by the industry. According to Cointelegraph, the difficulty level dropped to approximately 135.5 T, marking a modest decrease of about 1.1% over the past 24 hours, as reported by CoinWarz. Despite this decrease, mining difficulty is expected to rise in the next adjustment period. CoinWarz projects that the next adjustment will occur on May 01, 2026, at 01:24:54 PM UTC, increasing the difficulty from 135.59 T to 137.43 T, which will happen in 1,865 blocks, approximately 12 days, 18 hours, and 41 minutes from now. Bitcoin miners have been grappling with significant challenges over the past year, including reduced block rewards, escalating energy prices, a prolonged crypto bear market, and geopolitical disruptions. These factors have created economic headwinds for miners, prompting publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies to sell record amounts of BTC to cover operating expenses. In the first quarter of 2026, these companies sold more BTC than in all four quarters of 2025 combined, according to TheEnergyMag. Companies such as MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific, and Bitdeer collectively sold over 32,000 BTC during Q1 2026. This figure surpasses the 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022, coinciding with the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem, which triggered an extended bear market. Miners often sell their BTC to cover operating expenses, which are denominated in fiat currency. However, as the cost of mining a single BTC surpasses spot market prices, many BTC mining companies are struggling to remain profitable. According to CoinShares' Q1 2026 mining report, up to 20% of Bitcoin miners are currently unprofitable under existing economic conditions. The report highlights that Q4 2025 was the most challenging quarter for Bitcoin miners since the April 2024 halving. The authors attribute this to the sharp BTC correction in October 2025, which saw BTC's price plummet from a high of about $125,000 to approximately $86,000 by December 2025, coupled with the increasing computational difficulty of adding blocks, as significant obstacles for the mining industry.