Iran’s Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 77%, Global Network Impact Limited

Iran’s participation in Bitcoin mining fell sharply over the past quarter.

Cointelegraph reported on July 7 that Iran’s Bitcoin hashrate dropped about 77% from the previous quarter. Ian Philpott, marketing director at Luxor Technology, said the country’s hashrate fell by about 7 exahashes per second to roughly 2 EH/s.

The decline was linked to military conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran. Even so, the effect on the global network was limited.

Philpott said the disruption was confined to Iran, while the United Arab Emirates and Oman remained stable. Global hashrate has held near 1,000 EH/s, he added. Regional turmoil tends to relocate hashrate to other areas rather than reduce it outright.

Global hashrate posted only a modest decline. On a 30-day moving average basis, it fell about 5.8% to roughly 1,004 EH/s in the second quarter from 1,066 EH/s in the first quarter.

The decline was seen as driven more by worsening mining profitability than by war. Bitcoin is down more than 45% from the $126,000 level reached in October last year.

At current levels, older machines are no longer profitable and are being shut down, according to Philpott. About 252 EH/s of marginal capacity is now offline.

He said profitability, rather than energy costs or regulation, is the main factor determining whether mining equipment remains online. Recent regional shifts reflect relocation driven by returns.

The US accounts for the largest share of global hashrate at about 37%, followed by Russia at about 17% and China at about 12%.