Bitcoin’s hashrate has dropped more than 25% shortly after the flagship cryptocurrency’s price plummeted to a $4,000 low before recovering.

According to CryptoCompare data, BTC’s price has tested the $10,000 barrier numerous times back in February but since then it has been dropping, with a dramatic plunge seen last week, in which it went from $7,100 to $4,000 in two days. Overall, the crypto market lost $90 billion at the time.

The price drop was followed by a recovery to over $5,000, but has seemingly started to pressure miners, who have been betting on Bitcoin ahead of its upcoming halving event, expected to occur in May. The event will cut block rewards in half, form 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block, and as such miners have been focusing on mining as much as possible ahead of it.

Source: CryptoCompare

Data shows, however, that since BTC’s dramatic plunge its hashrate, which has more than doubled over the last 12 months, dropped from a high of 137 million TH/s to about 100 million TH/s.

Commenting on the drop and addressing an article claiming that the flagship cryptocurrency’s hashrate “barely flinched” after the price plummeted, F2Pool revealed the estimate difficulty change is now trending downward, as “some miners are now switching off their machines.” In mining, it added, “it’s the survival of the fittest.”

The mining pool added there’s “always a time lag for hashrate to decrease due to hosting contracts, and time required for operators to turn off a large number of machines.”

The network hashrate has dropped from a peak of ~124 EH/s to ~102 EH/s, while the bitcoin price has dropped from $9000 to $4800. There is always a time lag for hashrate to decrease due to hosting contracts, and time required for operators to turn off a large number of machines. — f2pool (@f2pool_official) March 16, 2020

The hashrate of Bitcoin’s two major forks – Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV – have also dropped significantly after the crash. To stay afloat, miners have to manage to get their hands on the newest hardware available, pay little for energy and for rent.

The halvings for BCH and BSV are expected to occur in 22 and 24 days respectively, while BTC’s halving is only expected in May.

Featured image via Pixabay.