Bitcoin mining profitability rebounded significantly in August 2026 thanks to a sharp rise in the price of the largest cryptocurrency, but the industry’s economics remain substantially weaker than last year’s levels, according to Fixygen.
According to the monthly Luxor Hashrate Index report published on September 8, the dollar-denominated hashprice—the estimated miner’s revenue per unit of computing power—started August at $31.63 per PH/s per day and ended the month at $39.33, an increase of 24.4%.
This marked the strongest monthly growth in the metric since November 2024. On August 27, the hashprice temporarily rose above $40 for the first time in 220 days.
Bitcoin was the main driver behind the improvement in mining economics. In August, its price rose from $62,889 to $78,312, an increase of 24.5%. The average BTC price for the month increased by 8.7% to $69,263.
The average hashprice for August was $34.63, compared to $31.21 in July, an increase of 10.9%.
However, even after this recovery, profitability remains significantly lower than last year’s levels. The average August hashprice was approximately 32% lower than the 2025 average of $50.68 per PH/s per day.
Relatively stable network difficulty provided additional support to miners. In August, two adjustments nearly offset each other, and the net change amounted to approximately minus 0.34%. The average difficulty was 2% lower than in July.
However, as early as September 5, network difficulty rose by 1.31% as some of the computing power that had previously been taken offline began returning to the network. Luxor notes that mining activity is recovering following the hashrate decline in June and July.
The increase in computing power could once again put pressure on profitability. The more equipment competes for a fixed block reward, the smaller the share of revenue per unit of hashrate.
The situation also remains challenging for less efficient equipment. According to Luxor’s estimates, devices with energy efficiency of 25–38 J/TH generated an average energy yield of about $45 per MWh in August, while the average grid electricity cost was about $48 per MWh. This means that some older equipment remains at or below the break-even point.
As a result, August provided miners with a noticeable respite, but the sustainability of the recovery will depend on three factors at once: Bitcoin prices, network difficulty, and the cost of electricity.
