Difficulty drops nearly 5% on January 23. Largest downward adjustment since the October highs.
For the profit miners: The squeeze is forcing capitulation. Inefficient operations are exiting, survivors mine the same blocks with less competition. Margins improve. This is how the cycle works.
For the plebs solo mining at a loss:
You're not doing it wrong. You're doing it right.
Every independent miner — even one running a single ASIC in a garage — is a vote for decentralization. You're not trying to win the lottery. You're making the network harder to capture.
When Samourai gets shut down, when pool operators face legal pressure, when regulators go after coordinators — solo miners are the backstop. No company to subpoena. No coordinator to arrest. Just hashpower pointed at the chain.
Profit mining is a business. Solo mining is ideology. Both matter. But only one of them can't be turned off with a court order.
Keep hashing.
Asaf Fulks
npub1ze…4n8ys
2026-01-20 06:51:29 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1zete4tgtqyfns5zavpa882ej9tt2gfhhd97rursq0crztzt2hyhsk4n8ysPublished at
2026-01-20 06:51:29 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "3b074fae89adcaa81b3065ba1d78a32f155d534438195261174d99e8d83c5861",
"pubkey": "16579aad0b011338505d607a73ab322ad6a426f7697c3e0e007e0625896ab92f",
"created_at": 1768891889,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [],
"content": "Difficulty drops nearly 5% on January 23. Largest downward adjustment since the October highs.\n\nFor the profit miners: The squeeze is forcing capitulation. Inefficient operations are exiting, survivors mine the same blocks with less competition. Margins improve. This is how the cycle works.\n\nFor the plebs solo mining at a loss:\nYou're not doing it wrong. You're doing it right.\n\nEvery independent miner — even one running a single ASIC in a garage — is a vote for decentralization. You're not trying to win the lottery. You're making the network harder to capture.\n\nWhen Samourai gets shut down, when pool operators face legal pressure, when regulators go after coordinators — solo miners are the backstop. No company to subpoena. No coordinator to arrest. Just hashpower pointed at the chain.\n\nProfit mining is a business. Solo mining is ideology. Both matter. But only one of them can't be turned off with a court order.\n\nKeep hashing. \n\n",
"sig": "e3622f899a380ac60638366dc4ed96b8a4648c583592a36cee2cdc60952e2d86f7b857d707e00028da05ff5ea885ac85612e8da29437ee2c78c9626ca7c6370e"
}