How is Bitcoin's network doing?

Updated 16 hours ago

THE MASTER READ

No clean story — Mining power is at or near record highs, yet miners are earning less per machine.

What supports network strength

Mining power is sitting at 90% of its all-time high.
Last difficulty change was +2.2% on 2026-05-16. Up means more miners are competing — good for the network.
About 1.81M new wallets opened in the last 6 months.

What warns of weakness

Miner revenue per unit is 92% below its 2020-era peak — margins are tight.
Median fee is around $0.29 per transaction — sending Bitcoin is cheap right now.

Bottom line: Mixed picture across the network — not broken, but uneven.

What changed this week

Mining got harder
Difficulty changed +2.2% on 2026-05-16. That makes 2 up-retargets in a row — miners keep adding capacity.
Miner margins are very tight
Revenue per unit is 92% below its 2020-era peak. Even with hashrate near record, the per-machine reward stays thin — only the cheapest electricity wins.
Mining power kept climbing
Up about 5.5% over the last week. Monthly pace: +11.2%.
Fees dropped to bargain levels
Median fee is around $0.29 per transaction. Easy on users, but it also means demand to use the network is soft.
Wallet growth is picking up
About 1.81M new wallets in the last 6 months — adoption is still expanding even when prices wobble.

Where we are in the halving cycle

Last halving 2024-04-20Next halving (est.) 2028-04-15

25 months into this halving epoch, with about 23 months left until the next one.