How to Understand Mining Difficulty Across Different Crypto

Before you start crypto mining, you may run into this question: “Which coin is the most profitable to mine right now?” Many people’s first instinct is to look at the coin price, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What really determines how much you can earn is another key metric—mining difficulty. This blog will explain, in simple terms, how to find, read, and fully understand mining difficulty for different coins.

What Is Mining Difficulty and Why Is It Important?

Mining difficulty, simply put, measures how hard it is across the entire network to mine a given coin. You can think of it like the difficulty level of a math problem. The harder the problem, the harder it is to get the reward for solving it.

Every Proof-of-Work (PoW) coin—such as Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), or Kaspa (KAS)—has its own difficulty adjustment mechanism. The network automatically adjusts difficulty based on block production speed and participating hash power over a set period. The goal is to keep block times consistent; for example, Bitcoin aims for one block every ten minutes.

If difficulty rises, it means network competition is stronger, and your output per unit of hashrate will drop, lowering your earnings. If difficulty drops, it may mean some miners have left, so remaining miners can claim more coins.

Proof-of-Stake (PoS) coins, like Ethereum (ETH), no longer rely on hash power to compete for blocks. Instead, they use staked tokens to compete for block validation rights. While they don’t have traditional mining difficulty, they still have mechanisms to regulate block times and reward distribution.

How Does Mining Difficulty Affect You?

Mining difficulty directly impacts how many coins you can mine. Using the same miner and paying the same electricity costs, higher difficulty means fewer coins per day, while lower difficulty means more.

Coin price and difficulty do not always move together. Sometimes, the price rises but network hash power hasn’t caught up yet—this could be a short-term “golden window.” Other times, price growth is slow but difficulty surges, which can actually cut into your real earnings.

When choosing a mining rig or deciding when to start mining, you need to consider both price and difficulty together to make sound decisions.

Where to Check Mining Difficulty for Different Coins

There are plenty of ready-made tools you can use to check difficulty:

• WhatToMine– Ideal for beginners. Shows current difficulty, network hashrate, expected revenue, and allows you to enter your miner’s specs for quick calculations.
  
  
• CoinWarz – Displays difficulty history for each coin in chart form so you can quickly spot whether it’s rising or falling.
  
  
• Mining Pool Websites – Pools like F2Pool and ViaBTC list real-time difficulty, block records, and miner rankings. Great for gauging competition levels.
  
  
• Block Explorers – Sites like Blockexplorer.one display difficulty data for each block, useful for deeper research.
  
  

How Beginners Can Read These Numbers—Focus on Four Key Metrics

When you first use WhatToMine, CoinWarz, or a pool website, the charts, numbers, and jargon might seem overwhelming. In reality, most mining decisions hinge on four metrics. Once you understand them, you can track difficulty trends and judge profitability.

Current Difficulty

This shows how much computing power is needed, on average, to mine a single block. Think of it as the “level” of a math problem—the higher the level, the slower and harder it is to solve.

If Bitcoin’s difficulty was 120T yesterday (T = trillion level) and is 125T today, competition has increased and your miner will take longer to produce one BTC. Difficulty changes dynamically with network hashrate, not by manual setting. Units vary by coin, but the concept is the same.

Network Hashrate

This is the total computing power of all miners working on a network. Imagine a classroom where everyone is solving the same problem—more participants means the teacher will make the problem harder so it doesn’t get solved too quickly.
For instance, Bitcoin’s network hashrate was 250 EH/s in 2023 but now exceeds 900 EH/s. That growth means more miners are joining with more powerful rigs, speeding up block production and triggering a difficulty increase. If you see a sudden spike in a coin’s hashrate, it often means the coin is trending, competition is rising, and future earnings may drop.

Difficulty Adjustment Cycle

Each coin has its own schedule for updating difficulty. For example, Bitcoin adjusts every 2016 blocks—about every two weeks—based on past mining speed. If blocks were mined faster than expected, difficulty goes up; if slower, it goes down.
By watching block height and the estimated next adjustment, you can predict whether difficulty will rise or fall. For instance, if Bitcoin is heading into a downward adjustment, this might be a “window” where earnings are temporarily higher, making it a good short-term entry.

Historical Difficulty Trends

A highly useful but often overlooked tool is the difficulty history chart. It shows whether a coin is currently at a high or low difficulty period.
On CoinWarz, you might see DOGE difficulty climbing steadily over the last month, reaching a three-month high. This could mean earnings are under pressure. On the other hand, if Kaspa’s difficulty suddenly drops and the price hasn’t reacted yet, that could be a “low-difficulty” entry point where output is higher for the same effort.

How to Use Difficulty in Coin Selection and Profit Forecasting

Whether a coin is worth mining isn’t just about price—it’s about difficulty and yield per unit of hashrate.

Example: A coin might seem cheap, but with very low difficulty, even a mid-range miner can produce a good amount. If you only look at price, you could miss this opportunity.

Many beginners make the mistake of focusing on “how many coins I mined” or “current coin price” alone. Instead, use a key metric: revenue per TH/s per day. This measures unit efficiency across different coins. Enter your miner specs into a mining calculator to quickly compare which coin is more profitable at the moment.

Visit Bitdeer to Becoming a Smart Miner

Shifting from a “price-watcher” to a “calculated miner” starts with understanding difficulty. It helps you forecast earnings, avoid mining traps, and time your entry and exit better.

Don’t just follow hype about “which coin makes money.” Learn to check data, compare, and think critically. Watch difficulty, hashrate, and trends, and you’ll stay ahead of most miners.

If you want deeper insights into difficulty trends for different coins, visit Bitdeer Mining Insights. We regularly update difficulty charts for BTC, ETC, and other major coins to help you make better mining decisions.