US Winter Storm Causes Hash Rate to Plumet

T

he brutal winter storm across the United States has taken its toll on bitcoin miners as they have been forced to shut down due to extreme weather conditions.

An arctic blast and devastating winter storm, accompanied by powerful winds and heavy snowfall, recently wreaked havoc on areas across the U.S., leaving thousands of homes and businesses without power throughout the holiday weekend as well as tens of people dead. Temperatures dropped dangerously low during this time period causing a multitude of dangerous issues for those affected.

There was a sudden disruption to the Bitcoin network as its hash rate – an indicator of computing power used for executing transactions- plummeted by over 30% since Saturday, according to CoinMetrics data. This steep decline from 230 EH/s down to 155 EH/s followed after large miners had suspended operations due to warnings issued by the National Weather Service about oncoming Arctic conditions.

The mining firm Riot Blockchain has announced that it will be shutting down its Rockdale facility in Texas due to the extreme weather conditions. Other miners are taking similar measures; Core Scientific, who recently filed for bankruptcy protection, stated they would join other power curtailments to help stabilize the electrical grid which may result in a decrease of Bitcoin production in this period.

The extreme weather event has posed a novel set of obstacles for U.S. Bitcoin miners, who rely on dependable power to conduct operations and any prolonged outages may seriously impede their mining capabilities. The United States is the biggest holder of Bitcoin's hash rate share across the world with 37% according to Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance data.

Mike

An editor at Coincrop

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Mike is a Coincrop staff writer based in the UK, covering the best rates for cryptocurrency earning and borrowing products. When not at work, he's likely putting his latest car project back together.