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Tom’s Hardware
Tom’s Hardware
Technology
Bruno Ferreira

Bitcoin network has its first quarterly hashrate drop since 2020 — Iran conflict spurs Bitcoin mining operators to accelerate pivot to AI infrastructure

Bitcoin Mining Iran CoinDesk
Someone looking at a bitcoin mining rig.

Back in the COVID days, there was much hand-wringing about the energy use of Bitcoin (BTC) mining, reaching an estimated 204 TWh at its peak around 2022. Mining is only as profitable as the energy feeding it is cheap, and recent developments have pushed the global BTC network hashrate (computational power) down by 4% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, the first drop since 2020, and many data centers have shifted from hosting miners to hosting AI applications. The drop is not common; Bitcoin has seen double-digit hashrate growth in the first quarter since 2020.

Go deeper with TH Premium: AI and data centers
(Image credit: Microsoft)
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