February 12, 2026 marks the most challenging moment for the Bitcoin mining industry since the "deep bear" of 2022.
According to Gate spot trading data, today’s BTC/USDT briefly touched the $68,000 mark amid volatility, with mainstream quotes hovering around $67,800. Compared to the all-time high of $126,000 set in October 2025, this represents a drop of more than 50%.
Yet, the most suffocating figures are hidden on the hashrate side. The "hard costs" of mining production and the market’s fair value are being torn apart, creating a massive profit gap.
Mining Each BTC Means a $19,000 Loss: The Entire Industry Enters the "Cost Inversion" Zone
CryptoQuant’s data quantifies this crisis: the current average fully loaded cost to produce one Bitcoin across the network is about $87,000.
This means that, based on Gate’s spot price of $67,800 on February 12, miners lose roughly $19,200 for every new Bitcoin mined—even without factoring in machine depreciation and labor. Just considering electricity, mining equipment, and site costs, the net loss per coin is about 28% to 45% above the current market price (depending on the energy efficiency of different machine models).
This phenomenon, where "production equals loss," is known in the industry as running "underwater." The key metric, the "Miner Profitability Sustainability Index," has plunged to 21. The message is clear: except for top players with extremely low electricity costs (below $0.05/kWh) and fleets of next-generation machines (energy efficiency below 20 J/TH), over 80% of miners have seen their marginal profits wiped out.
Hashprice Hits Five-Year Low, US-Listed Miners Face "Davis Double Whammy"
The pain miners are feeling is first reflected in the core revenue metric—hashprice.
Luxor data shows that hashprice, which measures expected revenue per unit of hashrate, has dropped to a historic low of $35/PH. This is even below levels seen during the FTX collapse in 2022, marking the lowest point in nearly five years.
This collapse in revenue has quickly triggered a reaction in the capital markets. Bitcoin mining giants listed on Nasdaq have taken a beating. Top players like MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms both saw their share prices drop more than 20% this week. Even CleanSpark, which tried to hedge risk by holding coins, reported a net loss of nearly $380 million in its latest financials. Its CEO admitted, "At current hashprice levels, large-scale expansion of mining capacity doesn’t make business sense."
To maintain liquidity on their balance sheets, the once steadfast "HODL" philosophy is unraveling. In early February, Cango sold off 4,451 Bitcoins in one go, raising $305 million to repay loans. MARA also transferred over 2,000 Bitcoins to market makers like FalconX and Wintermute as collateral. Miners have shifted from "holders" to "sources of selling pressure," further intensifying panic in the secondary market.
Significant Network Hashrate Discount: Even an 11% Difficulty Drop Can’t Save "Old Machines"
On February 9, the Bitcoin network underwent its largest difficulty adjustment since China’s mining ban in 2021—a roughly 11% reduction in mining difficulty.
From a textbook perspective, lowering difficulty is meant to ease competition among miners and allow offline hashrate to come back online. This time, however, the market mechanism failed.
Because the price drop was so deep and prolonged, the 11% difficulty reduction couldn’t offset the 45% price gap. For companies paying more than $0.06/kWh or still using older machines like the S19 series, shutting down remains the most rational choice. Add to this the industrial power curtailments caused by severe winter storms in Texas, and many machines that went offline have not returned even after the difficulty adjustment.
4. From "Silicon Shovels" to "AI Data Centers": Mining Giants Stage a Mass Exodus
More concerning than shutdowns is the strategic pivot of leading firms.
Facing the bleak "2026 mining winter," publicly listed companies that once focused solely on Bitcoin mining are now eager to shed the "miner" label.
Bitfarms recently announced a complete rebrand, changing its name to Keel Infrastructure and clearly stating, "We are no longer a Bitcoin company." Its business now centers on building AI/HPC (high-performance computing) data centers in North America. IREN is following suit; its $9.7 billion AI cloud services deal with Microsoft has made revenue from AI far outpace mining. During IREN’s latest earnings call, analysts didn’t ask a single question about Bitcoin mining.
This trend signals the most dangerous shift of the current cycle: just when the industry most needs builders to secure the network, the smartest and most well-capitalized players are leasing the electricity and server racks once dedicated to Bitcoin hashrate to generative AI companies at premium prices. While this helps individual miners avoid bankruptcy, it undeniably undermines the long-term growth of Bitcoin’s decentralized hashrate.
Conclusion
Back at Gate’s trading desk, market sentiment is searching for a new equilibrium amid "extreme fear."
As of February 12, Alternative data shows the Fear & Greed Index stuck at 11, still deep in the "extreme fear" zone. While Bitcoin has shown brief resilience in the $65,000 to $68,000 range and ETF outflows have begun to slow, the structural selling pressure caused by cost inversion remains a sword of Damocles hanging over the bulls.
For ordinary investors, the capitulation phase for miners often coincides with the market’s most oversold conditions. On Gate’s spot trading interface, compared to last year’s frenzy above $100,000, today’s BTC near $68,000 clearly offers a better risk-reward ratio. But it’s important to recognize: only when the Bitcoin price climbs back above the $87,000 production cost line, or after a thorough clearing of outdated mining machines, can miners’ balance sheets truly recover.
Until then, "under pressure" is no longer a metaphor—it’s the real cash drain behind every kilowatt-hour and every PH/s of hashrate.
