BTChub · Network & energy
The physical layer
Bitcoin is kept safe by machines that burn electricity to add each new block. This page tracks that work in plain numbers: how hard mining is (difficultydifficultyA protocol setting that adjusts every ~2 weeks to keep blocks arriving about every 10 minutes, rising and falling with hashrate.See it on the site →), how much computing power is doing it (hashratehashrateThe total computing power securing the Bitcoin network, in hashes per second — a measure of how much work backs the chain.See it on the site →), and what that work earns (hashpricehashpriceWhat a miner earns per unit of hashpower per day — revenue divided by hashrate. It falls as competition rises or price drops.See it on the site →). It updates weekly, not live.
In plain words: an estimated 1,030 EH/s of computing power guards the chain. Each petahash per second of it (PH/sPH/sPetahashes per second: a quadrillion guesses a second, the unit for a fleet of mining machines. One current machine does about 0.2 PH/s (200 TH/s)., about five of today’s machines) earns about $36.67 a day in new coins, and mining one new coin takes about $63k of electricity at 5¢ per kWh, against a $82,002 close on Oct 18. Difficulty and computing power are as of Oct 19.
What each reading means
Four readings, each with its honest limit — the same rule as the rest of the site: measured history and arithmetic, never a forecast, never dressed up as live.
The protocol's self-adjusting mining target, re-set every 2,016 blocks (~2 weeks) to hold ten-minute blocks as hashrate shifts. It has only ratcheted upward through every cycle bar a handful of retreats — the closest thing Bitcoin has to a security floor.
The catch · A protocol fact, but sampled only at each ~2-week adjustment and quoted as-of the weekly file (2026-10-19). It measures the work required per block, not price and not a forecast.
The estimated computing power securing the chain — and, by proxy, the energy committed to it. It is inferred from how fast blocks arrive against the current difficulty, so it is a statistical estimate, not a metered reading.
The catch · ESTIMATED from difficulty and block timing, never measured directly — short-window hashrate is noisy, so read the trend, not any single point. As-of the weekly file.
Mining revenue per petahash per day — what a unit of hashrate earns. It ties the network's energy to miner economics: as hashrate climbs, the same block reward is split thinner.
The catch · Subsidy only — the file carries no fee data, so real hashprice runs a little higher — and it blends a price close that itself lags (as-of 2026-10-18). Context, never a live quote or advice.
The electricity to mine one bitcoin — network power (hashrate × fleet efficiency) spread over the coins issued, at a public electricity price. Historically a soft floor: when price falls through it, the least-efficient miners power down and difficulty eases.
The catch · Our own arithmetic on two disclosed assumptions (~23 J/THJ/THJoules per terahash: how much electricity a mining machine burns for each unit of work. Lower is more efficient. New machines are around 15–20; older ones 30 or more. fleet, $0.05/kWh) — electricity only, so it excludes hardware and overhead, and it is NOT the non-commercial Cambridge dataset. A model and a soft floor, not a measurement or a guarantee.