#BTCMiningDifficultyDrops Bitcoin’s mining difficulty dropped sharply by 11.16% in early February 2026 — the biggest single drop since China’s 2021 mining ban. Here’s a simple, clear breakdown of what it is, why it happened, and why it matters.
1. What Is Mining Difficulty?
Mining difficulty measures how hard it is to mine a new Bitcoin block.
Purpose: Keep block times around 10 minutes so Bitcoin issuance remains steady (~450 BTC/day post-2024 halving).
Think of it as the network’s “speed limiter” for block production.
2. How Difficulty Adjusts
Automatically recalculated every 2016 blocks (~