Bitcoin miners are losing $19,000 on every BTC produced as difficulty drops 7.8% due to the Iran war. The average miner is operating at a 21% loss on every block produced. This has been exacerbated by the Strait of Hormuz, which remains effectively closed to most commercial traffic, and the threat of Iran's power plants. The difficulty regression model estimates average production costs at $88,000 per bitcoin. The price of bitcoin has fallen from $126,000 to below $70,000, but this has accelerated the cost squeeze. Difficulty dropped 7.76% to 133.79 trillion on Saturday, marking the second-largest negative adjustment of 2026 after February's 11.16% plunge during Winter Storm Fern. The next difficulty adjustment is expected for early April. If bitcoin stays below $88000, there is no sign of a return to that level in the near term, the miner exodus continues.