TL;DR
- Bitcoin’s mining difficulty decreased for the first time since September 2024, dropping by 2.12% to 108.11 trillion, as Bitcoin’s price fell below $100,000.
- The difficulty adjustment aims to maintain an average block discovery time of ten minutes, balancing the network’s workload despite fluctuations in mining activity.
- Investment bank KBW recommends buying Bitcoin mining stocks CleanSpark and Core Scientific, highlighting their efficient operations and significant market exposure.
Bitcoin‘s mining difficulty decreased for the first time since September 2024, marking a significant shift in the cryptocurrency landscape. Bitcoin’s price has fallen below $100,000, which is affecting the overall market and impacting how miners participate and their profits.
Details of the Difficulty Adjustment
The mining difficulty, an important measure of how challenging it is to confirm new blocks on the Bitcoin network, dropped by 2.12% at block height 880,992. This reduction lowered the difficulty level to 108.11 trillion from the earlier high of 110.45 trillion.
The system adjusts the difficulty level on its own roughly every two weeks, or after every 2,016 blocks, ensuring that the average time to discover a block remains around ten minutes.
As the number of active miners grows, the difficulty level escalates to maintain network stability, demanding greater computational resources for transaction processing. On the other hand, when fewer miners are involved, the difficulty decreases, helping to balance the network’s workload and ensuring that block times remain steady, even with varying levels of mining activity.
In related news, Bitcoin mining stocks are back in the spotlight for investors. Investment bank KBW has issued a report recommending a buy for two Bitcoin mining firms: CleanSpark, and Core Scientific. According to the bank, these companies offer varying degrees of exposure to the leading cryptocurrency.
CleanSpark: Leading the Charge in Efficient Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin mining firm CleanSpark is emerging as one of the most prominent publicly traded Bitcoin miners under the bank’s coverage. The company aims to achieve a hashrate of approximately 50 exahashes per second (EH/s) by mid-2025.
CleanSpark is recognized for having one of the most efficient mining fleets in the industry, delivering strong unit economics and exceptional BTC production. Consequently, KBW has set a price target of $19 for CleanSpark. Currently, the Bitcoin mining stock is trading at $11.53, with a 22% gain so far in January 2025.
Core Scientific: A Powerhouse in AI Hosting and Bitcoin Mining
According to the KBW report, Core Scientific offers significant exposure to one of the largest AI/high-performance computing (HPC) hosting contracts in the sector, thanks to its 12-year deal with CoreWeave inked last year. In addition to its Bitcoin mining operations, Core Scientific is preparing to secure incremental capacity by leveraging an engineering team with extensive experience in data center operations.
As a result, the investment bank has initiated coverage of Core Scientific shares with a $22 price target. The stock was trading steadily at $16 on Monday. Over the past six months, the CORZ stock has increased by 67%, with a 10% gain since the beginning of 2025.
