10-28-2026 
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TL;DR: BTC’s hashrate is near 1,100 EH/s, and difficulty is climbing toward 150 trillion, yet the all-in cost of mining a coin is back above its price, even as public miners pivot to artificial intelligence (AI). Heatbit is pitching a $899 Bitcoin-mining water heater element, and Tether has launched an open-source Mining Development Kit (MDK) backed by 15 firms.
Key Takeaways:
- BTC mining hashrate, difficulty rising while token price slips, with hashrate near 1,100 EH/s and difficulty at about 140.6 trillion.
- Bitcoin’s difficulty is expected to rise another 6.3% to nearly 150 trillion on October 29.
- Bitdeer leads BTC mining at 82.3 EH/s, ahead of MARA at 70.3 EH/s.
- Heatbit wants to mine your water heater: its Bitwater element fits existing 30- to 80-gallon electric tanks, with a preorder price of $899.
- Tether launches Mining Development Kit, an open-source framework to connect mining and AI hardware.
Block reward mining on the BTC network is getting harder despite public miners switching off their rigs as they ‘pivot’ to AI, while Tether says its new software will let operators connect both mining and AI hardware.
Despite the hard ‘pivot’ by publicly traded mining operators away from mining towards the more predictable revenue streams from serving as data centers for artificial intelligence and other high-performance computing (HPC) operations, the BTC network’s mining hashrate is currently flirting with highs not seen since spring.
Midway through October, BTC’s global hashrate (the total computing power applied to securing the network) topped 1,000 EH/s (one zettahash) and is currently flirting with 1,100 EH/s. The network hasn’t been in zettahash territory since Ma,y and you have to go back to last December to find a comparable 1,100 EH/s rate.
Meanwhile, BTC’s mining difficulty rate is also on the rise, currently sitting at an average ~140.6 trillion hashes (guesses) needed to ‘find’ a new block on the network. That’s up nearly eight points (+5.9%) from mid-October, and the next difficulty adjustment scheduled for October 29 is expected to rise another nine points (6.3%) to nearly 150 trillion.
There are several theories regarding these surges, including the sudden abundance of used ASIC mining rigs on the market as the big publicly traded miners plunge headlong into AI’s embrace. These rigs may have been snapped up by smaller mining operators who are either (a) remaining mining-only or (b) hedging their AI/HPC bets by maintaining their existing mining ops.
Then there are the miners that manufacture their own ASICs, like Bitdeer (NASDAQ: BTDR), which has been diverting the rigs coming off the shop floor into its own self-mining operations rather than flogging them at discounted rates to an ever-smaller number of buyers. As a result, Bitdeer is the current hashrate champ with an operating average of 82.3 EH/s, easily eclipsing the 70.3 EH/s average of former top dog MARA (NASDAQ: MARA).
Bitdeer’s dominance is reflected in its September production stats, which show the company self-mining 1,355 BTC, up from just 452 in the same month last year, when its hashrate was a mere 35 EH/s.
Bitdeer is by no means ignoring the AI pivot, as a quick glance at its recent capex figures will attest. It was with evident relief that Bitdeer’s CFO Michael Potter used the September production release to celebrate the “increased tailwinds as [BTC] pricing continues to strengthen.”
Unfortunately, those tailwinds have since petered out and, coupled with the increased mining difficulty, means the all-in cost of mining a single token is once again back above what the token is worth.
Mining in hot water
With mining economics perpetually threatening to turn sour, squeezing every possible penny out of the process is a must. That includes directing some of the intense heat generated by banks of ASICs churning away at their guessing games to heating structures ranging from private homes to commercial buildings to plant greenhouses.
Re the latter, Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN) previously announced a collaboration with Bitforest Investment to reclaim 90% of the electricity consumed by ASIC mining rigs to help grow tomatoes in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Canaan CEO Nangeng Zhang recently updated the market on this project, saying it is “moving toward planned deployment, pending the completion of site inspections.”
In May, Canaan announced the expansion of a partnership with “a leading Nordic heating provider” to replace its traditional heating solutions then in use with Canaan’s Avalon A1566HA series hydro-cooled units. The rigs are capable of heating water to 80°C, and the original 228-rig installation (2MW) is now being expanded at the customer’s request by an additional 692 rigs, bringing total output to 8MW.
Canaan said this month that the 8MW setup is now “fully operational” and providing heat to ~2,800 homes. The company is now promoting this dual-use service to other Nordic heating providers. (This isn’t a unique offering, as MARA previously used heat generated at its two mining sites in Finland to help heat thousands of homes.)
Now Heatbit is pitching North American homeowners on a new product called Bitwater, “the water heater element that mines Bitcoin.” Heatbit claims the device, which replaces a hot water tank’s existing resistance wire, “screws into the electric tank you already have” (30- to 80-gallon capacity) with no advanced DIY skills required.
Bitwater contains 20 Bitmain BM1370 mining rigs capable of 34 TH/s, and since it’s cooled by the water in the tank, there are “no fans, no noise.” Unlike traditional 4,500-watt tank elements that heat quickly and then shut off, the 600-watt Bitwater chugs away slower for longer.
Heatbit says Bitwater has been “tested through winter” in both New York and Florida with “households of four and five.” The product is expected to ship in Q1 2027 for a preorder price of $899, rising to $1,299 if you wait for the next batch.
Bitwater features an app that allows you to monitor water temperature and hashrate, as well as choose from solo mining or joining a pool, with any earnings directed to the BTC wallet of your choice. As for whether the mining returns justify the price tag, even Heatbit acknowledges your BTC output will depend on “your hot water usage and mining conditions.”
For the record, this isn’t Heatbit’s first foray into home mining/heating. In 2026, Wired questioned the economics of the Heatbit Maxi space heater, calling it “neither a great heater nor the most energy-efficient Bitcoin miner on the market.” The year before, the New York Times raised similar economic questions regarding Heatbit Trio, a combo space heater/air purifier.
Tether rolls out mining/AI software, plots world domination
Heatbit is among 15 firms offering initial support for the new Mining Development Kit (MDK) released by Tether, issuer of the world’s leading stablecoin (USDT). Over the weekend, Tether announced that the 15 firms “have committed to working together to build and maintain integrations” with the MDK, “an open-source framework that makes mining infrastructure interoperable and supports the next generation of AI-driven automation.”
The release follows Tether’s February announcement that it would be open-sourcing its BTC Mining Operating System, with the promise of a modular toolkit it was calling Mining SDK at the time coming in a matter of months.
Tether claims MDK offers “a common infrastructure layer” that companies will connect to via their own ‘MDK Worker’ that translates and connects their own hardware, pool, or system. The system will allow developers to build “applications and autonomous systems that work across different mining environments without requiring separate integrations for every manufacturer or platform.”
Besides Heatbit, the 15 companies willing to at least explore the MDK include familiar names like Bitdeer, Bitmain, Canaan, Luxor Technology, MicroBT, the Proto mining unit of payment processor Block (NASDAQ: XYZ), mining pools Foundry, F2Pool, Ocean, and SpiderPool, as well as Tether’s own Elektron Energy.
A ‘stable’ 1.0 release of MDK is expected to be out by year’s end, but Tether suggests companies don’t need to wait for the kinks to be worked out in order to test their integrations and start developing their applications.
Tether says its QVAC mining agent is already operating on MDK, but it remains to be seen whether companies will find the process as simple/easy as Tether connecting its in-house appendages. It’s worth noting that the 15 firms pledging to give it a shot don’t represent binding commitments, so the proof is still out on this pudding.
There’s also the concern that Tether already wields outsized control over the crypto sector via the ubiquity of USDT, so is it really advisable for it to also exert significant control over the system that secures the BTC network? Recall that in June 2025, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino boldly declared that Tether “will be the biggest Bitcoin miner in the world.” It didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean Tether stopped trying.
FAQs:
Is Bitcoin mining hashrate going up in October 2026?
Yes. BTC’s global hashrate topped 1,000 EH/s (one zettahash) in mid-October and is nearing 1,100 EH/s. That is its highest level since last December.
What is Bitcoin mining difficulty right now?
Bitcoin mining difficulty is about 140.6 trillion hashes, up 5.9% from mid-October.
What is Heatbit Bitwater?
Bitwater is a water heater element that mines Bitcoin. It screws into existing 30- to 80-gallon electric tanks and contains 20 Bitmain BM1370 miners delivering 34 TH/s. It draws 600 watts and is cooled by tank water, so there are no fans.
How much does Heatbit Bitwater cost?
Preorders are $899, rising to $1,299 for the next batch, with shipping expected in Q1 2027.
What is Tether’s Mining Development Kit (MDK)?
MDK is Tether’s open-source framework meant to make mining infrastructure interoperable and support AI-driven automation. Companies connect through an “MDK Worker” that translates their own hardware, pool, or system. A stable 1.0 release is expected by year’s end.
Which companies support Tether’s MDK?
Fifteen firms have committed to build integrations, including Bitdeer, Bitmain, Canaan, Luxor, MicroBT, Block’s Proto unit, Foundry, F2Pool, Ocean, SpiderPool, Heatbit, and Elektron Energy. The commitments are non-binding, so real adoption remains unproven.
Watch: Gorilla Pool provides end to end solution for ASIC mining
