Coinpedia reported that the Bitcoin mining continued to be under pressure in 2026, based on the latest two-quarter performances of MARA and Riot. The two companies sold a total of 32,758 BTCs in the first half of the year. At the same time, the network has experienced a marked fall back in difficulty compared to the beginning of the year, and mining companies have begun to shift funds more quickly to electricity, data centres and AI-related operations.

Difficulty & Countback

Hasharrate Index data shows that bitcoin difficulty has been down 10 times in 2026, with only 7 upwards. Following a recent adjustment on 23 August, the difficulty fell to 125.81 trillion, down 15.1 per cent from approximately 148.25 trillion on 1 January and 19.1 per cent below the 15.6 trillion high point created in November 2025.

The calculus is also falling. By medium calibre, Bitcoin ' s total Internet computing power is currently between 855 and 928 ETH/s, about 25 per cent below the high point of 1.23 ZH/s in October 2025. This means that over a period of time more than 300 ETH/s have been effectively counted out of the network. According to the article, even if the price of bitcoin rebounded in August, the calculation did not rise significantly.

MARA sold over 23,000 in the first half of the year.

Mara released performance for the second quarter on August 6. The company ' s operating capacity increased by 22 per cent to 70.3 ETH/s in the second quarter, producing 2,422 BTCs in the current quarter, up from 2,247 in the first quarter. An improvement of 4 per cent to $27.7 per day.

However, business improvements did not offset the fall in currency prices. The company received $174.9 million in the second quarter, a decrease of 27 per cent over the same period; and a net loss of $611.3 million compared to a net profit of $808.2 million during the same period of the previous year. It states that the drag was caused mainly by the decline in the price of Bitcoin and the loss of fair value of digital assets.

The size of MARA's currency also declined significantly. The company held 35,577 BTCs at the end of the season, a decrease of 29 per cent. Of these, 20,880 BTCs were sold in the first quarter at an average price of approximately $70,137; and 2,213 in the second quarter. On this basis, the MARA sold a total of 23,093 BTCs in the first half of the year.

According to the article, this portion of the funds related to its $1.5 billion Long Ridge acquisition. The project is a 505 MW gas power plant in Ohio, with targeted uses including AI and high performance calculations.

Riot mining costs are higher than currency

Riot published performance for the second quarter on August 5. The company produced 1,587 BTCs for the current season at a combined cost of US$ 90,631 for a single bitcoin, compared with the average production value of US$ 71,667 given in the text. This means that Riot's mine costs in the second quarter are higher than the current currency.

Sales data also reflect this pressure. Riot sold 4,300 BTCs in the second quarter and a cumulative total of 9,665 in the first half of the year. The article estimated that it earned approximately $680 million in currency sales during the first half of the year.

It states that Riot is investing part of its funds in data centre operations, including the 191 MW lease project at Rockdale Park and Anthropic in Texas. The company expects the total capital expenditure of the project to be approximately $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion. By the end of the second quarter, Riot liquidity was $1.2 billion, including $549 million in cash and 11,380 BTCs valued at approximately $666 million.

The company's valuation started looking at AI.

According to the article, against the backdrop of increased mineral revenue and currency sales, some of the mining stock prices are still winning bitcoin and market pricing logic is changing. It states that, as at 24 August, the year of Riot had risen by 58 per cent, while bitcoin and spot bitcoin ETF IBIT had fallen by 27 per cent over the same period.

CoinShares data show that the value of the company, which has been awarded the HPC contract, is approximately 12.3 times the sales over the next 12 months; and that the Pure Mining Company is about 5.9 times. According to the article, the market gave AI contracts and data centres a higher valuation and no longer priced only for mining on the basis of bitcoin capacity.