Bitcoin Mining Weekly: April 3–10, 2026

Market Overview

Bitcoin opened the week at $72,220, gaining 2.0% over 24 hours at time of writing. The broader market sentiment around mining remains cautious but improving, as the hashprice recovery signals that miners who survived the Q1 squeeze are now operating in more favorable conditions. BTC's stability above $70,000 has been a key factor in the hashprice rebound from the sub-$30 lows seen earlier in April.

Hashprice Index

Hashprice climbed from $30.41/PH/s at the start of the week to $34.57/PH/s by April 10 — a +13.7% weekly gain. Measured in sat/TH/day, hashprice moved from 41.32 to 47.86 sat/TH/day over the same period.

The recovery was driven by two converging factors: BTC price holding above $72,000 and the network hashrate dropping from ~970 EH/s to 947 EH/s after severe winter storm outages in Texas and surrounding states. The next difficulty adjustment is estimated at -4.9%, which would provide additional relief by increasing individual miners' share of rewards.

Note that the weighted average real yield across pools stands at 43.63 sat/TH/day, while the simple average is 43.84 sat/TH/day — both notably below the top-tier performers, reflecting the wide efficiency gap in the current pool landscape.

Network Stats

Current network conditions as of April 10, 2026:

• Hashrate: 947 EH/s
• Difficulty: 138.97 T
• Next adjustment: estimated -4.9% (~April 18)
• Block height: 943,488
• Daily BTC emission: ~450 BTC (~$32.5M/day)
• Blocks until halving: ~106,512

Average block time over the past week ran slightly above the 10-minute target at ~631 seconds, reflecting the reduced competition for block space following the storm-driven hashrate drop.

Real Yield Rankings

Real yield — the actual sat/TH/day paid out by a pool after fees and operational costs — remains the most honest metric for comparing pool performance. Here are the top performers for the week ending April 10:

1. Headframe — 44.75 sat/TH/day (Partner pool, 0.9% fee)
2. Luxor — 44.40 sat/TH/day (2.5% fee)
3. TrustPool — 44.17 sat/TH/day (1.0% fee)
4. 21Pool — 43.66 sat/TH/day (4.0% fee)
5. SpiderPool — 43.64 sat/TH/day (4.0% fee)

The theoretical hashprice this week was ~47.86 sat/TH/day. The gap between theoretical and actual payouts reflects pool fees and operational efficiency differences. Headframe's 0.9% fee structure and operational optimization allow it to consistently outperform the median pool.

Pool Landscape

The top 10 pools by hashrate as of April 10:

1. Foundry USA — 286.6 EH/s (31.7%, 0% fee, FPPS)
2. AntPool — 151.7 EH/s (16.8%, 4% fee, FPPS)
3. F2Pool — 104.0 EH/s (11.5%, 4% fee, FPPS)
4. ViaBTC — 89.0 EH/s (9.8%, 4% fee, PPS+)
5. SpiderPool — 63.7 EH/s (7.0%, 4% fee, FPPS)
6. SECPOOL — 55.3 EH/s (6.1%, 4% fee, PPS+)
7. Luxor — 37.5 EH/s (4.1%, 2.5% fee, FPPS)
8. MARA Pool — 36.5 EH/s (4.0%, 0% fee, FPPS)
9. Binance Pool — 18.7 EH/s (2.1%, 4% fee, FPPS)
10. SBI Crypto — 15.0 EH/s (1.7%, 1.5% fee, FPPS)

The efficiency gap — the percentage difference between the weighted average real yield (31.51 sat/TH/day in USD terms) and the simple average (31.66 sat/TH/day) — stands at 8.85%, meaning higher-quality pools are delivering meaningfully better payouts than the average participant.

Foundry USA continues to dominate with nearly a third of all network hashrate and a 0% fee structure that effectively doubles as a competitive moat. Total active pool count: 101 pools.

Mining News Highlights

1. Historic Difficulty Drop Sends Shockwaves Through Mining Sector
Bitcoin's mining difficulty is set to decline by approximately 11.4% — the largest single downward adjustment since China's 2021 mining ban, exceeding even the capitulation lows of the previous bear market. The adjustment was driven by a combination of winter storm outages (which temporarily knocked up to 40% of US hashrate offline) and sustained pressure on miner revenues from BTC price weakness below $70,000. The reduction will push hashprice to roughly $35/PH/s if BTC holds steady, providing short-term relief. (Source)

2. Paradigm Report: Bitcoin Mining Stabilizes Power Grids
A new Paradigm report challenges the narrative that Bitcoin mining is purely a grid drain, presenting evidence that mining operations can act as flexible demand-response assets. Miners' economic sensitivity to electricity prices means they naturally run when power is cheapest and throttle during peaks — effectively functioning as a self-regulating load balancer. Real-world examples include Texas demand-response programs during extreme weather and hydro-region operations that absorb surplus generation during rainy seasons. (Source)

3. AlphaTON Signs $43M AI Hardware Deal with Vertical Data
AlphaTON Capital Corp. announced a $43 million agreement with Vertical Data Inc. on April 10, 2026, combining AI hardware procurement and financing to expand AlphaTON's confidential compute infrastructure. The deal signals continued capital reallocation from pure mining toward AI-adjacent infrastructure, a trend reshaping the competitive landscape for power and compute resources. (Source)

4. CoinShares: Mining Margins Tighten as AI Pivot Accelerates
CoinShares' latest report frames 2026 as a year of mounting cost pressure for Bitcoin miners, with the AI infrastructure pivot adding competition for power and compute resources. CleanSpark reports total cash-based mining costs of $30/PH/s; IREN comes in at $26/PH/s. As AI deployments expand, they draw capital and energy away from traditional mining operations, compressing margins across the sector and forcing operators to adapt strategies or accept lower profitability. (Source)

Looking Ahead

The next difficulty adjustment is approximately 8 days out, currently estimated at -4.9%. This follows the historic -11.4% drop and would mark a second consecutive reduction — unusual but not unprecedented during periods of extended miner stress or weather-related disruptions.

For operators, the combination of a likely easier difficulty adjustment and hashprice recovery above $34/PH/s paints a marginally better picture than the start of April. However, the structural pressure from AI infrastructure demand for power and the persistently wide efficiency gap between top and average pools means operational excellence will continue to separate survivors from those forced to the sidelines.

Watch for: any acceleration in hashrate return post-storm, BTC price action above $75,000, and further clarity on whether the AI infrastructure pivot represents a genuine diversification or a retreat from mining altogether.