The combined working speed of Bitcoin mining devices has recently slowed down. Miners saw a drop in network difficulty for the first time since September. This situation particularly points to tougher market conditions for small-scale miners. The total revenue from Bitcoin mining remained steady at $1.4 billion in January. However, the consolidation in the mining sector has significantly increased. Public mining companies hold a total of 99,000 BTC (approximately $9.7 billion in value), representing about 30% of the network’s hash rate. The intensifying competition among leading mining firms is leading to smaller operators exiting the market. While Marathon Digital (MARA) maintains its lead with a hash rate of 41.65 EH/s, CleanSpark follows with 34.77 EH/s. Riot Blockchain has reached a capacity of 31.27 EH/s with its aggressive growth strategy, positioning itself at the heart of competition. According to TheMinerMag’s report, the growing market share battles among major mining companies… as firms with hash rates of 30 EH/s intensify competition, the gap among miners at the 10 EH/s level like Core Scientific, Cipher Mining, and Bitfarms is growing. This increasing disparity indicates the difficulty for smaller players to survive in the market. With profitability decreasing in mining due to the last halving event that halved Bitcoin mining rewards, the pressure on profitability is rising, and even as the BTC price nears $100,000, it has not prevented a general tightening of profit margins in the sector. While this allows larger mining companies to increase their market share by leveraging economies of scale, it seriously weakens the competitive position of smaller operators. Due to the decline in profitability, many miners are starting to explore alternative income sources. Offering hosting services specifically for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) companies is becoming a new business model for these firms. Companies with large operations are investing in more advanced cooling infrastructure to increase mining efficiency, while small miners are struggling with rising operating costs. The significant slowdown in the import of mining hardware to the US in January is also highlighted as another reason for the slowdown in hash rate growth. However, some major companies like Blockchain Power Corp and AcroHash continue to expand their operations by importing a significant amount of advanced cooling infrastructure from Bitmain. According to TheMinerMag’s forecasts, with a drop in profitability causing smaller mining operators to withdraw from the market in February, a slight further drop in network difficulty is likely.