Bitcoin climbed about 40% from its 1 July intraday low near $57,700, trading around $80,000 by early September and about $83,500 at the end of the month.
For miners, the more interesting part is what the network did during that run. It barely moved.
Hashrate is lagging, and that helps operators
Network hashrate averaged about 926 EH/s in July. By the end of September the seven-day average was about 952 EH/s, an increase of roughly 3% while price rose by around 40%. Over the same period USD hashprice, what one PH/s earns per day, rose from about $28 at the start of July to about $40.
We think two things explain the gap:
- New machines take time to arrive. Chip production and manufacturing lead times cap how fast new capacity can reach the network.
- Older fleets keep retiring. Less efficient machines leave the network as new ones join, which offsets part of the growth.
As long as hashrate grows more slowly than price, existing fleets keep wider margins. Where your own machines land depends on their efficiency and your power cost — see Shutdown Price: At What Bitcoin Price Does Your Miner Stop Covering Its Power? For why hashrate grows fast or slow, see Why Network Hashrate Grows Fast or Slow.
Your current fleet matters more than ever
When hashrate grows slowly, the machines you already own stay competitive for longer. That makes uptime the real lever. Every hashboard that is down, every failed fan and every power supply running out of spec is revenue left on the table during a favourable window.
- Keep spares on hand. Fans, power supplies, control boards and cables on the shelf instead of weeks of waiting — see Cheap Part, Expensive Downtime.
- Repair hashboards rather than writing machines off. See Hashboard Repair or Replacement.
- Track efficiency per machine. J/TH at the unit level, not just a site-wide average, shows which machines are quietly dragging the fleet down.
- Check idle machines before powering them back on. See What to Check Before Restarting Idle Miners.
The macro risk to watch
On 24 September the 10-year US Treasury yield passed 5.2%, its highest level since 2007, with the 30-year near 5.5%. At the same time, large technology companies have been borrowing heavily to fund AI spending: about $220 billion in bonds in 2026 as of 10 August, according to BNP Paribas data, compared with $12.5 billion in the same period a year earlier. Investors have started asking for wider spreads on that debt.
Bitcoin has tended to trade alongside risk assets such as technology stocks. If higher borrowing costs trigger a broad equity pullback, bitcoin could fall with it, and hashprice with it.
The number that matters: price going into the 2028 halving
The next halving, expected around April 2028, cuts the block reward from 3.125 to 1.5625 BTC. Transaction fees aside, that halves what each PH/s earns in bitcoin overnight.
To keep hashprice near today’s $40/PH/day after the halving, with network hashrate unchanged, bitcoin would need to roughly double, to about $167,000.
If price or fees do not make up the difference, margins compress quickly and only efficient, well-maintained fleets stay comfortably above their shutdown price. See Bitcoin Halving and Miner Economics for what that does to different machines.
Bottom line
Price has run well ahead of hashrate, and hashprice is at its best level in months. That is a window for operators. Use it to get your existing fleet into top shape and to plan which machines will still earn after the halving.
Running a fleet and need parts or repair support? Send us the miner model, quantity, condition and location, and we will put together a quote.
Sources: bitcoin price, KuCoin News, 5 September 2026; hashrate and hashprice, Luxor Hashrate Lookback, July 2026 and Hashrate Index Roundup, 28 September 2026; Treasury yields, CNBC and Semafor via Digg, 24 September 2026; technology bond issuance, Allwork.Space, 21 August 2026. This article reflects the views of NODE29 only and is not financial or investment advice.