Bitcoin Hashrate Nears 1 Zettahash Record: Coinshares Predicts Fierce Race in Mining
According to a new report from digital asset investment firm Coinshares, the Bitcoin network is approaching an unprecedented milestone: reaching 1 Zettahash per second (ZH/s) of hashpower by July 2025. If realized, this would mark a significant milestone, demonstrating strong confidence from miners and a significant improvement in Bitcoin network security.
Hashrate Grows Faster Than Expected
By the end of Q4/2024, Bitcoin's hashrate had reached 778 EH/s, far exceeding Coinshares' previous prediction of 765 EH/s. The report attributes this growth largely to Bitcoin's strong price increase throughout 2024, which has prompted miners to deploy more hardware to expand their mining capacity.
Coinshares expects this growth to continue, with a target of 1.28 ZH/s by the end of 2025 and up to 2 ZH/s by early 2027. This is a clear sign that the Bitcoin mining industry is entering a period of strong investment, with increasingly fierce competition.
Increased network security, reduced 51% attack concerns
Reaching the 1 Zettahash threshold is not only symbolic, but also has profound technical implications: the network's security will be higher than ever, while the risk of 51% attacks will be significantly reduced. This reflects the long-term confidence of the mining community in Bitcoin's intrinsic value and growth potential.
Hashrate Faces Competitive Pressure
In addition to the optimistic outlook on hashrate, Coinshares also took a cautious look at the “hash price” – a measure of the average revenue miners receive per unit of hashpower. While the hash price has recovered slightly in 2024, the long-term forecast suggests that the structural downtrend will continue.
Specifically, the hash price is expected to fluctuate between $35–50 per PH/day from now until the next halving in 2028, with the possibility of falling below $40 in Q1/2026. This partly reflects increasing hardware performance and fiercer competition among miners globally.
Bitcoin and Gold Mining: Both “Mining,” But Different in Nature
As Bitcoin continues to be compared to gold as a store of value, Coinshares’ report focuses on the rare thing the two assets have in common: both are “produced” through mining, though the methods are fundamentally different.
While gold requires physical mining — identifying mines, obtaining permits, and using heavy equipment to dig for ore — Bitcoin is “mined” digitally, with ASIC machines solving algorithms to validate transactions and receive rewards. This model depends not only on Bitcoin’s market price, but also on the miner’s relative position in the global hashing power pool.
“Bitcoin mining is more flexible, but also much more volatile. If a competitor increases its capacity dramatically, you can lose market share without changing your operations. This is an industry-specific risk that operators cannot ignore,” Coinshares concludes.