28-4-2025 – Coinshares, a leading digital asset investment firm, predicts that Bitcoin’s network hashpower could soar to an extraordinary 1 Zettahash per second (ZH/s) by July this year, a milestone that shatters earlier projections and underscores the relentless momentum of the cryptocurrency’s mining ecosystem. This surge, propelled by a robust bitcoin price rally in 2024, reflects miners’ unwavering confidence in the network’s future, as they swiftly deploy cutting-edge hardware to capitalise on soaring profitability.
The significance of reaching 1 ZH/s cannot be overstated. A hashpower of this magnitude fortifies Bitcoin’s defences, rendering the prospect of a 51% attack—a theoretical vulnerability where a single entity controls the majority of the network’s computing power—virtually unthinkable. This milestone also signals hefty investments in state-of-the-art mining equipment, a testament to the sector’s optimism about Bitcoin’s long-term value and resilience. Coinshares projects this upward trajectory will continue, with hashpower potentially climbing to 1.28 ZH/s by the close of 2025 and possibly doubling to 2.0 ZH/s by early 2027, driven by fierce competition and technological advancements.
Yet, amidst this bullish outlook, the report casts a cautious eye on hash prices, a critical barometer of miner profitability. While these have edged upward in recent months, Coinshares anticipates a gradual decline, with prices likely to oscillate between $35 and $50 per Petahash per day (PH/day) through the 2028 Bitcoin halving cycle. By early 2026, the average hash price could dip below $40, a shift attributed to relentless efficiency gains in mining hardware and intensifying competition as more players enter the fray with increasingly powerful machines.
Intriguingly, the report draws a parallel between Bitcoin and gold mining, a comparison reignited by gold’s impressive 30% surge this year. While both assets derive their scarcity from energy-intensive mining processes—gold through physical extraction, Bitcoin via computational prowess—their operational realities diverge sharply. Gold miners grapple with geological constraints and cumbersome permitting processes, whereas Bitcoin miners engage in a relentless digital race, wielding specialised ASICs and vast electricity reserves to solve intricate mathematical puzzles. Success in this arena yields new coins and transaction fees, but it hinges on a miner’s share of the global hashrate, a variable that fluctuates with the scale and aggression of competitors’ operations.
Reflecting on 2024’s performance, Coinshares notes that Bitcoin’s hashpower closed the year at 778 Exahash per second (EH/s), modestly surpassing its earlier estimate of 765 EH/s. This outperformance, fuelled by favourable market conditions, has set the stage for the exponential growth now anticipated. However, the report underscores the volatile nature of Bitcoin mining, where revenues are tethered not only to the cryptocurrency’s market price but also to a miner’s ability to maintain a competitive edge in an ever-shifting global landscape.
