Tether-backed Bitcoin treasury company Twenty One Capital CEO Rapha Zagury said at Bitcoin Asia 2026 that Bitcoin is experiencing its first-ever “hashrate bear market.” Bitcoin’s network hashrate approached 1.3 ZH/s at the end of last year before declining steadily, marking the longest cycle to date from an all-time high in hashrate to recovery.

Zagury said the current situation differs from the hashrate decline following China’s 2021 crypto mining ban, when miners mainly relocated to other regions and gradually recovered. Bitcoin mining now also faces new infrastructure allocation options such as AI and HPC. He said nearly all publicly listed mining companies are moving away from pure large-scale Bitcoin mining and shifting toward AI.