Bitcoin’s mining landscape is shifting from record-breaking competition to a more subdued balance, even as mining stocks retreat from their 2026 highs. According to data cited by Cryptopolitan, the network hashrate fell to around 987 EH/s in October, close to its average for the past year, while difficulty has trended downward for most of 2026.
The hash ribbon indicator shows miners have been out of the distress zone for the past two months, producing roughly 450 BTC per day above cost for most operations. Despite this, miners have been selling rather than accumulating. Total miner reserves dropped from around 1.9 million BTC at the end of 2025 to approximately 1.19 million BTC, nearing all-time lows.
Foundry USA remains the leading pool with about 25% of blocks produced, but it holds near-zero BTC reserves after selling its last 236 BTC in September. The pool also announced that CEO Mike Colyer will step down and remain in a consultancy role for six months. Binance Pool holds about 41,897 BTC, slightly down from 42,000 BTC in March, while AntPool has increased its holdings. F2Pool reduced its reserves from roughly 6,000 BTC to around 4,000 BTC over the past two years.
Miners are increasingly pivoting toward artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centers, and some have switched to ZCash production for potentially higher returns. This shift has weakened the value proposition of BTC reserves among publicly traded miners.
In the stock market, IREN fell 6.27% to $38.69, well below its June peak of $67.84. TerraWulf traded near $14.40, about 50% below its 2026 peak. With winter expected to reduce hydroelectric power available for mining, another drop in activity may follow.
