From last Christmas to this Christmas, BTC's mining difficulty has increased by 36.5%. Over the past year, even though Bitcoin's price has generally been on a downward trend, mining difficulty has continued to rise. This highlights a fact that many people overlook: the supply side hasn’t exited the game due to price drops. Instead, it’s staying at the table with higher efficiency and heavier capital investment. Hashrate corresponds to capital expenditures, electricity, and long-term operational decisions that have already been made, and these actions inherently have a lagging effect. When BTC prices weaken, yet mining difficulty still rises significantly, it only shows that the previously invested hashrate hasn’t exited. Miners are choosing to withstand cost pressures through efficiency improvements and economies of scale. At least over the past year, there hasn’t been a systemic, passive hashrate capitulation. More importantly, this divergence indicates that Bitcoin is currently in a typical supply-side rigidity phase. New hashrate continues to enter the market, driving up the production cost per BTC, while the demand side hasn’t expanded in sync. Naturally, this makes it difficult for prices to form a smooth trending market. As a result, the market characteristics during this phase often manifest as limited upside elasticity and controlled downside risk, with time repeatedly wearing down prices in the high-cost range. In simpler terms, BTC mining costs are gradually increasing, and instead of panicking due to price drops, miners are doubling down on capital investment in BTC mining. @bitget VIP, lower fees, bigger perks!