Bitcoin mining difficulty sees largest pullback in five years, mining companies shift financing focus to AI computing power track

Bitcoin mining industry experiences significant changes. This week (February 6–12), the entire network’s mining parameters saw dramatic fluctuations, with the most notable being a single difficulty adjustment—the largest since summer 2021. This change reflects dynamic adjustments in network hash rate and evolving market competition. Meanwhile, funding hotspots are quietly shifting, with several mining companies accelerating their deployment in AI distributed computing power.

Mining difficulty undergoes a major correction, network hash rate responds accordingly

According to data from cloverpool, the average Bitcoin network hash rate this week reached 1030 EH/s, peaking at 1116 EH/s and dropping to a low of 901 EH/s. Compared to last week’s average of 912 EH/s, this is a 9.28% increase. However, mining difficulty moved in the opposite direction, experiencing the largest single adjustment in nearly five years, causing the seven-day average hash rate to fall to 990.08 EH/s.

This divergence between hash rate and difficulty typically indicates a reallocation of computational resources within the network. When hash rate influx and difficulty adjustments are out of sync, mining profitability fluctuates, influencing miners’ decisions to expand or reduce operations.

Miner production data shows Bitcoin holdings hit new highs

Looking at the January performance of major publicly listed mining companies, the industry landscape remains stable. Bitdeer mined a total of 668 BTC in January, with total Bitcoin holdings reaching 1,530 BTC by month-end. Canaan Technology mined 83 BTC during the same period, increasing its crypto reserves to 1,778 BTC and 3,951 ETH.

These figures demonstrate that leading miners not only maintain steady daily mining output but are also actively accumulating Bitcoin assets for long-term value locking. Notably, Bitcoin’s current price has risen to $74,480, up from the initial cycle average of $68,401, boosting the asset reserves’ value for these companies.

Canaan’s financing accelerates, AI computing power becomes a new track

The most notable funding activity this week is Canaan’s additional raise of $75.5 million, which will be primarily invested in transforming and upgrading AI distributed computing platforms. This move confirms a new direction for mining capital—while traditional Bitcoin mining continues, incremental capital and strategic focus are gradually shifting toward AI computing power demand.

Canaan’s financing decision reflects industry consensus: with the explosion of large models and generative AI applications, demand for GPUs and computing resources is skyrocketing. Existing mining operational experience, supply chain advantages, and capital reserves position traditional miners as natural participants in the AI computing power race. This shift indicates that the Bitcoin mining industry is evolving from merely producing BTC to becoming a broader provider of computing services.

Data sources: cloverpool, blockchain.com, publicly available information from NYSE-listed Bitcoin mining companies