Bitcoin mining activity slowed down a bit during the last week of September, while miners also reduced the amount of Bitcoin they were holding.
Data showed Bitcoin’s seven-day average hashrate dropped to about 915.8 EH/s on Sept. 26, the lowest level seen in roughly three weeks. Compared with the previous week, the network lost around 34.9 million TH/s of computing power.
Hashrate measures the total processing power being used to secure the Bitcoin network and validate transactions. While a higher hashrate usually means more miners are active, short-term changes can happen for many reasons, including power availability, mining difficulty adjustments, and equipment changes.
Recent data from mining trackers also showed Bitcoin’s network hashrate staying below one zettahash during several sessions in late September. Even so, the network continued operating normally, with blocks being processed as expected.
At the same time, miner-held Bitcoin reserves fell by 1,530 BTC over the week. Total miner reserves were estimated at around 1.193 million BTC by Sept. 26.
A drop in miner reserves means Bitcoin moved out of wallets linked to miners or mining pools. However, that does not automatically mean the coins were sold. They could have been transferred to custodians, used as collateral, moved between wallets, or prepared for future transactions.
Mining companies continue to follow different strategies. Some are holding large amounts of Bitcoin, while others are selling part of their production to fund operations or expansion plans.
For example, CleanSpark mined 593 BTC in August but sold 821 BTC during the same month. Other firms have started shifting resources toward artificial intelligence infrastructure instead of Bitcoin mining. One company, Hyperscale Data, recently shut down mining operations at a Michigan facility as it prepared the site for AI-related business.
Even though hashrate and miner reserves declined, another mining indicator called the Puell Multiple moved higher. The metric rose to 1.13 during the week, showing that the dollar value of newly mined Bitcoin was above its one-year average.
This does not necessarily mean miners are earning large profits, since electricity, equipment, and operating costs vary widely between companies. It simply shows that mining revenue is currently above its long-term average level.
Mining conditions also remain very different around the world. In Ethiopia, authorities recently reduced electricity supplies to Bitcoin miners after lower reservoir inflows affected hydropower generation. The country plans to review the situation again in October.
Despite these challenges, Bitcoin’s network continues to function normally. The system’s built-in difficulty adjustment mechanism helps balance changes in mining power over time, ensuring that blocks continue to be produced at a steady pace even when hashrate rises or falls.
