Bitcoin’s network hashrate crossed 1 exahash per second for the first time in mid-2026, a milestone that would have been unimaginable even three years ago. That number represents raw computational power - the aggregate of mining rigs worldwide racing to solve blocks - and it keeps climbing despite the fact that the April 2024 halving cut block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

The math for miners got harder. Revenue per petahash dropped sharply in the months following the halving. And yet capital continued flowing into new ASIC hardware and facility buildouts, primarily in the United States, Paraguay, and parts of the Middle East where energy costs and regulatory conditions remain favorable.

This Isn’t Irrational

Mining operations that survived the 2022 bear market did so by locking in long-term power purchase agreements and financing hardware at scale. The ones still standing have lower break-even costs than the public perception of mining usually allows. When Bitcoin’s price recovered above $80,000 through late 2024 and held there into 2025, margins returned - and that’s when expansion decisions for 2026 hardware deployments were made. The hashrate you see today reflects investment choices from 12 to 18 months ago.

Large publicly traded miners like Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms have also shifted their approach, moving toward self-mining combined with hosting third-party machines to smooth revenue. This reduces their direct exposure to BTC price volatility without requiring them to sell the asset.

The Fee Question Nobody Wants to Answer

Record hashrate brings a structural problem into sharper relief. Block subsidies will continue halving every four years until they approach zero, at some point around 2140. The long-term security model for Bitcoin assumes that transaction fees eventually replace subsidies as the primary miner incentive. That transition is not happening at meaningful scale yet. Fees remain a small fraction of miner revenue on most days, spiking only during periods of Ordinals activity or mempool congestion.

Whether Bitcoin’s fee market can organically develop into a reliable revenue base is the most consequential open question in the network’s economics. The record hashrate signals confidence in Bitcoin’s near-term price trajectory. It doesn’t answer anything about the security budget a decade from now.

Miners are making a directional bet, not a solved calculation.