The US share of bitcoin hashrate slipped to an estimated 35.6% in Hashrate Index's Oct 5, 2026 update, down from 36.7% in the previous edition, while the network total barely moved. The figures cover the period that ended with Q3 2026. US hashrate was about 335 EH/s, roughly 10 EH/s (about 3%) lower than before. The network averaged about 941 EH/s over 30 days, up 0.1%. The US got smaller inside a network that stayed the same size, and that is the part worth understanding if you buy or host miners.
US hashrate fell for a third straight quarter
US hashrate fell for a third straight quarter, and its estimated share has dropped in every Hashrate Index update since late 2025. Here is the run, by update:
- Q4 2025: about 389 EH/s, 37.8% share
- Q1 2026: about 400 EH/s, 37.5% share
- Q2 2026: about 375 EH/s, 37.4% share
- Q3 2026: about 345 EH/s, 36.7% share
- Q4 2026 (published Oct 5): about 335 EH/s, 35.6% share
Over a full year the US is down about 14% in EH/s (roughly 389 to 335). Over the same stretch its share fell about 2.2 points, from 37.8% to 35.6%. Those are two different measurements, which the next section explains.
EH/s and share measure different things
A country's share is its hashrate divided by the network's, so it can fall even when the country's own number holds steady. Here is the arithmetic for this update:
335 EH/s / 941 EH/s = 0.356, or about 35.6%The network is about 8.7% below a year earlier and about 15% below a roughly 1,110 EH/s peak in November 2025, according to the Q4 2026 article (other trackers place that peak differently). The US fell about 14% over the year, so it fell faster than the network and its share shrank. The 14% is a change in EH/s. It is not a change in share.
Share figures also depend on who is counting. Hashrate Index says its heatmap blends mining pool data, ASIC trading flows and firmware adoption trends, and it does not publish the weights. Country numbers are modelled estimates. Spark.money's September 2026 estimate put the US at 38% to 42%, and the two methods are not comparable. Read any share as a statement about that tracker on that date.
Bitcoin hashrate by country, and what Hashrate Index says is behind the shift
Russia holds 18.1% of hashrate (about 170 EH/s), the highest share in the Hashrate Index series, and China holds 11.7% (about 110 EH/s). The US, Russia and China together hold 65.4%, down from 66.2% in the July edition. CryptoSlate's coverage on Oct 6 covers the same split.
Further down the list are Paraguay at 4.8%, Oman at 3.0%, the UAE at 2.8%, Indonesia at 2.1%, Norway at 1.7% and Ethiopia at 1.6%. Canada is at about 22 EH/s, down 8% from the last update and 27% from a year ago. By our own arithmetic (22 / 941) that is roughly 2.3% of the network, a figure Hashrate Index does not state.
On causes, Hashrate Index lists "capacity converting to AI/HPC (United States, Canada, UAE)" among its regional factors, and it does not put a number on it. Its July piece described the US decline as margin-driven curtailment plus conversion, "rather than an exodus." Blockspace pointed to weak economics as well, with hashprice in the low $30s per PH/s per day in mid-July.
There are real conversions. Keel Infrastructure, formerly Bitfarms, decommissioned all of its US bitcoin mining ahead of an AI/HPC buildout, reported Aug 10. CryptoSlate's caution is that company examples show conversion happening but do not establish a broad trend. Treat AI/HPC as one factor among several, not the cause.
What a shifting share means if you buy or host miners
A national share is a statistic about the whole network, and it says nothing about what any one facility pays for power. What decides your results is your own all-in cost per kilowatt-hour and how much of the time your machines are running. The US share can fall while a particular site is cheap and stable, and it can hold while another site struggles.
One signal in the data is worth keeping. When hashrate moves off bitcoin toward other uses, it hints that miners now compete with AI for power. That makes the terms of your power contract matter more.
If you are comparing hosts, a few questions do more work than any country statistic:
- Is the rate all-in, or does it exclude fees that arrive later?
- Is there a minimum unit count?
- Does the host take a performance fee or a share of what you mine?
- What happens to your machines when the grid is stressed?
Fathom Labs hosts in Southeast Texas, served by Entergy Texas rather than ERCOT. Miners bought from us (Whatsminer and Antminer models) are hosted at $0.07/kWh all-in with no minimum. Bring-your-own hosting is $0.08/kWh with a 10-unit minimum. We charge no performance fees and take no share of mined output. More detail is on the hosting page and in our hosting costs guide. To test your own numbers, use the profitability calculator. We do not promise returns.
FAQ
Are miners leaving the US?
The data shows a smaller US share, not proof of an exit. US hashrate is down from about 400 EH/s in the Q1 2026 update to about 335 EH/s in this one, and its share is down from 37.8% to 35.6% over a year. Hashrate Index's own July description was a mix of curtailment and conversion "rather than an exodus," and the estimate itself is modelled.
Did AI and HPC demand cause the drop?
Not on the evidence available. Hashrate Index lists capacity converting to AI/HPC as a regional factor for the US, Canada and the UAE without quantifying it. Blockspace also cited weak mining economics, and CryptoSlate notes that company examples like Keel do not establish a broad trend.
How reliable are country share numbers?
They are estimates, and they differ by tracker. Hashrate Index blends pool data, ASIC trading flows and firmware adoption trends without publishing weights. Spark.money's September 2026 estimate had the US at 38% to 42%. Compare a tracker only with its own earlier editions.
Does the US share matter for my own miners?
Only indirectly. Your result depends on your all-in power rate, your uptime and the hashprice you earn, not on a country's slice of the network. Put your own numbers into the profitability calculator, or contact us if you want to talk through hosting terms.