Iran War Cuts Local Hashrate but Global Bitcoin Network Holds Firm

Iran’s hashrate has plummeted over the past quarter amid an ongoing conflict with the US and Israel, though the war itself has not dragged down global hashrate, according to a new report from Hashrate Index.

Iran has lost roughly 7 exahashes per second (EH/s) quarter-over-quarter, said Ian Philpot, marketing director at Luxor Technology, in a report published Monday. The country’s hashrate now sits at about 2 EH/s according to the Hashrate Index heatmap.

Philpot noted that while the regional conflict clearly impacted Iran, it could have triggered a ripple effect for neighboring countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Oman, yet so far, neither has been affected.  

“The impact was contained to Iran; neighboring UAE and Oman remained stable. The global hashrate at ~1,000 EH/s persists because no single region has enough capacity to threaten network continuity. Regional disruptions redistribute hashrate rather than destroy it,” he said.

The Middle East conflict escalated in February after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, which has led to retaliatory strikes from both sides. A deal for a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was reached on Tuesday. Iran is estimated to have 427,000 active Bitcoin (BTC) mining rigs.

Miners are the backbone of the Bitcoin network. They validate and record all Bitcoin transactions into new blocks. The more miners participate, the higher the hashrate, which helps secure the network.

Global hashrate down due to Bitcoin price slump

The 30-day simple moving average network global hashrate declined from 1,066 EH/s in Q1 to around 1,004 EH/s in Q2, a 5.8% quarter-over-quarter decline that Philpot attributed to a slump in Bitcoin prices. 

Miners earn Bitcoin for each block they solve, but with prices down, those rewards do not always cover the cost of running their rigs.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has fallen more than 45% from its all-time high of $126,000, set in October, pushing hash prices to record lows. Philpot said mining profitability, not energy costs or regulatory policy, is the primary driver of today’s geographic shifts in hashrate.

“At these levels, older-generation equipment, 25+ J/TH efficiency, operates at negative gross margins, forcing shutdown. We estimate 252 EH/s of marginal capacity sits offline—most legacy hardware already retired,” he added.

Related: Solo Bitcoin miner bags $210K Bitcoin block reward

“This pattern is cyclical. Mining profitability drives machine deployment and retirement more than energy costs or regulatory frameworks. Geographic shifts observed in Q1 and Q2 reflect operators testing which regions can sustain operations once the down-cycle ends and hashprice normalizes.”

Top three countries control 65.6% of the global hashrate

The US holds the largest share of global hashrate at over 37%, followed by Russia at around 17% and China at 12%, according to the Hashrate Index heatmap.

Philpot said the hashrate among the largest players is roughly flat, however the composition is changing, with legacy equipment forced offline and modern hardware deployed selectively to regions where it can remain profitable long term.

“Growth is characterized by deployment of modern hardware alongside retirement of legacy equipment. Canada shows similar dynamics: slight quarter-over-quarter pullback but positive year-over-year growth, reflecting optimization rather than exodus,” he added.

Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author