This week, the Bitcoin network recorded its second consecutive difficulty decline, recording a 2.43% decline as of April 17th, followed by a further 2.3% decline on May 1st. Hashrate has also been on the decline, currently below the 1 zettahash/second (ZH/s) threshold.
Important points:
- Bitcoin difficulty decreased by 2.3% on May 1st, making it the sixth decrease in 2026 as the hashrate fell below 1 ZH/s.
- Over the past seven days, Foundry USA has mined 31.51% of 987 blocks, and together Antpool and ViaBTC have pushed the share of the three pools to 58.35%.
- Once the block time reaches 10:28, the hash price increases to $37.52/PH/sec, with further difficulty adjustments scheduled around May 17th.
Bitcoin adjustment for block 947520 reduces difficulty by 2.3%
Sunday, May 3, 2026 The network’s computing power ranged from 899 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 958 EH/s over the past 24 hours. Not so long ago, the hashrate was over 1,000 EH/s, which is equivalent to 1 ZH/s, but it started to decline from April 19th. When we adjusted the difficulty with a block height of 947520, the hashrate was coasting at around 899 EH/s.
The May 1 adjustment represents the network’s sixth reduction of nine total 2026 epochs. After the latest changes, the difficulty level is now 132.47 trillion and is expected to remain at this level until around May 17th.
What stands out about the latest hashrate drop and difficulty adjustment is that the network’s hash price has increased from $34.39 per petahash per second (PH/s) to $37.52 per PH/s. Although miners’ revenues improved during this period, overall computational power continued to decline from mid-April through this period.
The block interval has become longer and is still slightly behind schedule even after adjusting for the previous day’s epoch. The average block time on May 3 was approximately 10 minutes and 28 seconds. If this tempo continues, further downward revisions may materialize on May 17th, but it is too early to draw any firm conclusions.
Miners still have over 1,800 blocks left to process by that point, so there’s plenty of room for things to change. Over the past week, 987 blocks were produced, of which Foundry USA accounted for 311 (31.51%).
Close behind, Antpool found approximately 163 blocks. This is approximately 16.51% of last week’s total. Third place ViaBTC identified 102 blocks, securing 10.33% of the network’s total hashrate.
Together, these three mining pools account for 58.35% of the network’s total hashrate. Meanwhile, miningpoolstats.stream data reports that 115 different entities or pools currently provide computing power to the Bitcoin network.
As the next correction window approaches, miners are navigating a narrow path where improved hash prices bring relief, but softer hash rates and slower blocks bring uncertainty.
With more than 1,800 blocks remaining and the situation remaining fluid, the network’s trajectory through mid-May will depend on whether computing power stabilizes in the coming days or continues its slow regression. Market participants will be watching to see if the direction becomes clearer.
