Winter Storm Fernan forced miners offline, slashing the US Bitcoin Mining Hashrate.
As Winter Storm Fernan swept across the United States, it caused a sharp drop in the US Bitcoin mining hashrate.
Foundry USA‘s hashrate has dropped by approximately 200 exahashes per second (EH/s), a 60% decrease over the past few days. A storm with freezing temperatures, snow, and ice hit major mining regions of the US, straining electricity grids. In a bid to cut blackouts and save infrastructure, most mining companies reduced production and shut down their machines.
Bitcoin miners consume a lot of electricity, and during extreme weather, power demand from homes and hospitals spikes. In response, utilities often ask large energy users, such as miners, to reduce their load.
Many US miners participate in demand response programs that pay them to shut down during grid stress. Therefore, the storm damaged only the immediate production, but the miners did not behave irresponsibly. They were assisting in stabilizing the grid without forced outages or equipment damage.
With less computing power online, Bitcoin’s network slowed down. Instead of producing a new block every 10 minutes, block times stretched to around 12 minutes.
This might sound serious, but it’s actually normal behaviour. Bitcoin adjusts well to situations like this. The network will automatically reduce mining difficulty, restoring normal block times.
Bitcoin continued to operate without difficulties even after losing a large part of the US Bitcoin Mining Hash Rate. There was no downtime or need for emergency fixes.
For miners, this episode demonstrates the hazards of working in the US, including weather conditions. It also shows the benefits, such as access to flexible energy markets that pay for smart shutdowns.
The sudden drop in US Bitcoin mining hashrate slowed block production, but it didn’t break the network. It showed Bitcoin working exactly as designed, adapting, adjusting, and moving forward, even in the middle of a storm.
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BTCUPDATE: #Bitcoin hashrate on FoundryUSA is down by nearly 200 EH/s, or 60%, since Friday amid continued curtailment. Temporary block production slows down to 12 minutes 🫥🫥
❄️ As an Arctic blast sweeps the U.S., #bitcoin miners are curtailing power to ease grid strain. Over 110 EH/s of hashrate has been taken offline so far.
UPDATE: #Bitcoin hashrate on FoundryUSA is down by nearly 200 EH/s, or 60%, since Friday amid continued curtailment. Temporary block production slows down to 12 minutes 🫥🫥
❄️ As an Arctic blast sweeps the U.S., #bitcoin miners are curtailing power to ease grid strain. Over 110 EH/s of hashrate has been taken offline so far.
