Will the Upcoming Retarget Restore Bitcoin's Equilibrium on May 4?

Over the past week, data reveals that the Bitcoin blockchain has witnessed the departure of nearly 100 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashrate.

In the past week, nearly 100 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashrate has left the Bitcoin blockchain. Most of that exodus unfolded after the network’s difficulty climbed to 123.23 trillion on April 19.

However, the protocol is now poised to restore equilibrium on May 4, when the next readjustment to the mining parameters is due.

Data from hashrateindex.com reveals that 91 EH/s has left the network since April 17, 2025. At the time, the network was processing about 897 EH/s.

The network recently hit an all-time peak of 926 EH/s in seven-day simple moving average (SMA) terms on April 8. But since April 17 and over the following nine days, there has been a sustained decrease in computing power.

Most of this drop came after a 1.42% rise in difficulty on April 19. That particular adjustment took total difficulty to 123.23 trillion and marked the fourth consecutive increase in this metric.

The implication of that rise in difficulty, which spurred some miners to leave and led to a decline in hashrate, has been to slow down block times. Typically, blocks are found around every 10 minutes. But since April 19, the average block time has been 10 minutes, 34 seconds.

Slower block times usually lead to a reduction in difficulty. In the next adjustment on May 4, a 5.5% drop in difficulty is projected.

This shift also comes amid improved miner revenue, as the hashprice—which denotes the expected daily value of 1 petahash per second (PH/s)—rose noticeably last week.

On April 19, the hashprice was $44.06 per PH/s. But today, it stands at $48.70, denoting a 10.53% increase.

Recent hashrate retreat on the Bitcoin network highlights the protocol’s dynamic equilibrium, where rising difficulty can lead to miners departing and temporarily slowing down block times. Hashprice gains amid this ebb suggest heightened competition among remaining miners, mitigating profitability pressure. The upcoming difficulty adjustment embodies the protocol’s self-correcting nature, poised to realign incentives and potentially lighten the load for miners this cycle.