Bitcoin hashrate dips as US winter storm hits

Bitcoin’s network hashrate fell to a seven-month low over the weekend after a severe winter storm across the United States forced miners to scale back operations to stabilise strained power grids.

Data from mining analytics platform CoinWarz showed hashrate dropping to about 663 exahashes per second by Sunday, down more than 40% from Friday, before rebounding toward 854 EH/s by Monday.

“Approximately 40% of global Bitcoin mining capacity has gone offline in the past 24 hours due to extreme winter weather,”

Said Oregon-based miner Abundant Mines.

The impact was amplified by the US hosting the world’s largest share of mining power, with Hashrate Index estimating the country accounts for nearly 38% of global hashrate.

AccuWeather said the storm affected more than three dozen states, triggering widespread snow, ice and power outages that disrupted electricity supply for about one million customers.

Bitcoin miners often curtail operations during extreme weather to support grid stability, using their ability to rapidly adjust energy demand to reduce pressure on critical infrastructure.

The storm also slowed Bitcoin production at major US miners, with companies such as Marathon Digital Holdings and IREN reporting sharp temporary drops in daily output, according to CryptoQuant data.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $88,252.72.