When is the next difficulty adjustment?

Approximately 30 October 2026 at 00:37 UTC, at block #973,728; 1,072 blocks are left. It is an estimate: the date moves with block speed.

How often does difficulty change?

Every 2,016 blocks, roughly every two weeks.

What is the maximum change?

By the protocol rule, at most a factor of 4 up or down in one adjustment.

Why does the estimate change?

It is built from the average block time so far in the current epoch and is recomputed with every new block until the epoch ends.

Does higher difficulty mean a higher price?

There is no direct link. Difficulty reflects how much computation a block takes and says nothing about price.

Next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment

≈ 30 October 2026 at 00:37 UTC, block #973,728, expected +3.81% (estimate, 1,072 blocks left).

Source: mempool.space, 22 Oct 2026, 21:20 London · current difficulty 140.58 T

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Live estimate

Epoch progress: 46.8%
Avg block time: 9.64 min
Estimate: +3.81%
Previous: +5.92%

How to cite this figure

Next difficulty adjustment: ≈ 30 October 2026 at 00:37 UTC, block #973,728, estimated +3.81% (1,072 blocks left). Source: mempool.space, as of 22 Oct 2026, 21:20 London (London time). 21btc.cc/tools/difficulty

History of adjustments

Date (UTC)	Block	Difficulty	Change
2026-10-16	#971,712	140.58 T	+5.92%
2026-10-03	#969,696	132.72 T	-0.03%
2026-09-19	#967,680	132.76 T	+4.16%
2026-09-05	#965,664	127.45 T	+1.31%
2026-08-23	#963,648	125.81 T	-1.31%
2026-08-08	#961,632	127.48 T	+0.99%
2026-07-25	#959,616	126.23 T	-0.74%
2026-07-11	#957,600	127.17 T	-5%
2026-06-27	#955,584	133.87 T	+7.15%
2026-06-14	#953,568	124.93 T	-10.09%
2026-05-29	#951,552	138.96 T	+1.72%
2026-05-15	#949,536	136.61 T	+3.12%

Source: mempool.space (most recent adjustments).

What difficulty is and why it adjusts

Difficulty sets how hard it is to find a valid block hash. Every 2,016 blocks the network checks how long they took and changes difficulty so that a block takes 10 minutes on average; it cannot move by more than a factor of 4 in one adjustment. Wiki article →

What it means for miners

Higher difficulty at the same hashrate shrinks each miner's share; lower difficulty enlarges it. The estimate promises no income. Mining calculator → · Solo mining odds → · Pools →

Network →Hashrate →Halving →Mining video →

FAQ

When is the next difficulty adjustment?: Approximately 30 October 2026 at 00:37 UTC, at block #973,728; 1,072 blocks are left. It is an estimate: the date moves with block speed.
How often does difficulty change?: Every 2,016 blocks, roughly every two weeks.
What is the maximum change?: By the protocol rule, at most a factor of 4 up or down in one adjustment.
Why does the estimate change?: It is built from the average block time so far in the current epoch and is recomputed with every new block until the epoch ends.
Does higher difficulty mean a higher price?: There is no direct link. Difficulty reflects how much computation a block takes and says nothing about price.