Bitcoin’s hashrate has posted its first first-quarter decline in six years, ending a long streak of growth — though the shift may ultimately favor greater network decentralization.

The network’s total computational power, currently around 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s), is down roughly 4% year-to-date, according to Glassnode. Over the past five years, hashrate surged roughly tenfold from about 100 exahashes per second (EH/s), with first-quarter gains historically driving full-year growth above 10%. In 2022, the network’s power nearly doubled.

The 2026 slowdown reflects changing economics in bitcoin mining. Production costs hover near $90,000 per BTC while spot prices remain around $67,000, squeezing margins. Many publicly listed U.S. miners are shifting toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing operations, which offer more predictable and higher returns.

This transition is being financed through debt and bitcoin sales, leaving less capital for reinvestment in mining. As a result, hashrate growth is now more sensitive to BTC prices, with weaker prices likely to push smaller operators out of the market.

Although a declining hashrate can raise security concerns, decentralization may be more important than absolute size. U.S.-listed miners currently account for over 40% of global hash power, and a reduction in their dominance could make the network more geographically distributed, supporting long-term resilience.

Despite the first-quarter dip, CoinShares forecasts that bitcoin’s hashrate could reach roughly 1.8 ZH/s by the end of 2026 if BTC recovers toward $100,000.