Former CoinRoutes CEO Dave Weisberger argued in an X put up on February 23 that Bitcoin’s early-2026 hashrate rebound is greater than a mining-cycle restoration and could also be a lagging sign of a broader worth transfer forward. His core thesis is that sovereign-linked mining exercise is beginning to play for Bitcoin the identical structural function central financial institution gold shopping for performed for gold earlier than its breakout.
Weisberger frames the comparability by means of the current gold cycle, the place he says sovereign accumulation preceded worth discovery by years. In his telling, the important thing sign was not ETF demand or retail flows, however central banks steadily including reserves as geopolitical fragmentation and fiat-risk considerations rose.
“The outcome? A parabolic gold rally that few noticed coming in actual time,” he wrote. “Gold has surged to file highs effectively north of $5,000/oz on this cycle, leaving the ‘it’s simply inflation’ crowd scrambling. The shopping for got here first. The worth discovery adopted later.”
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Why Bitcoin’s Hashrate Restoration Is Signalling The Subsequent Rally
Making use of that framework to Bitcoin, Weisberger factors to what he describes as a “textbook V-shaped restoration” in community hashrate in early 2026. After a pointy pullback of roughly 15% to twenty% from prior peaks, he says computational energy rebounded from beneath 900 EH/s to above 1 ZH/s, accompanied by one of many largest absolute problem will increase on file, at almost 15%.
For Weisberger, that restoration is not only a post-stress normalization after winter curtailments, regional shutdowns, and post-halving margin compression. He argues it displays a unique class of miner stepping in. “This isn’t random noise. It’s the direct footprint of sovereign mining stepping in the place non-public miners hesitated,” he wrote.
A central a part of the put up is Weisberger’s declare that no less than 13 nation-states at the moment are mining Bitcoin at a governmental or state-linked stage (backed by VanEck analysis). He cites Bhutan, the UAE, and El Salvador, and in addition names Russia, Iran, and Ethiopia as international locations deploying power belongings into mining.
“These will not be retail and even company miners chasing day by day hashprice,” he wrote. “These are governments changing stranded or strategic power into a conveyable, verifiable, seizure-resistant reserve asset. They mine for coverage causes: income with out printing extra native forex, community safety wherein they maintain a direct stake, and positioning in a world the place monetary sovereignty issues.”
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Weisberger argues sovereign miners function with totally different constraints than non-public miners: longer time horizons, totally different value of capital, and fewer must promote output into market weak spot. In that framework, sovereign mining turns into a mechanism for absorbing newly issued BTC straight into long-term holdings, lowering sell-side strain whereas additionally strengthening community safety.
Weisberger explicitly describes hashrate restoration as a lagged, not coincident, indicator, as a result of sovereign mining enlargement requires {hardware} procurement, power contracts, infrastructure buildout, and coverage approvals. These processes transfer slowly, usually in periods when worth motion seems flat or corrective.
He argues that this sequence can change market construction earlier than worth displays it: stronger safety, tighter issuance circulation, and broader validation of Bitcoin as a reserve asset somewhat than a purely speculative automobile. His conclusion is blunt: “The hashrate restoration isn’t simply technical resilience. It’s a sovereign sign flashing vibrant. Governments are voting with power infrastructure and stability sheets.”
At press time, BTC traded at $63,209.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
