A US winter storm knocked Bitcoin hashrate to a 7‑month low as miners powered down to ease grid stress, even as BTC, ETH and SOL prices stayed relatively calm.
Summary
- A powerful US winter storm drove Bitcoin hashrate down about 40% in two days to roughly 663 EH/s, before a rebound toward 854 EH/s.
- Miner Abundant Mines says around 40% of global capacity briefly went offline, underscoring miners’ role as “flexible load” during grid stress.
- Despite the shock, Bitcoin trades near 87,913 dollars, Ethereum around 2,930 dollars and Solana near 124.57 dollars over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) mining network just endured a stark reminder that it ultimately answers to the weather, not the market. Over the weekend, a powerful winter storm sweeping across the United States pushed Bitcoin’s hashrate to its lowest level in seven months, as miners throttled or shut down rigs to relieve pressure on stressed power grids.
Bitcoin hash rate tumbles to 7-month low after winter storm pounds the US
According to AccuWeather, the storm hammered more than three dozen US states with heavy snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures, leaving roughly one million customers without electricity. Against that backdrop, data from analytics platform CoinWarz show Bitcoin’s computing power began sliding on Friday before “plunging sharply” over the weekend to around 663 exahashes per second (EH/s) by Sunday, a drawdown of more than 40% in just two days. The network has since staged a partial recovery, rebounding to about 854 EH/s as of Monday.
Oregon-based miner Abundant Mines called the shock “significant,” estimating that “approximately 40% of global Bitcoin mining capacity has gone offline in the past 24 hours due to extreme winter weather,” with many operators voluntarily reducing output as demand spiked. The company framed this flexibility as a structural edge, arguing that mining farms can shut down rapidly during grid stress and restart just as fast when conditions normalize. That dynamic was especially visible in the US, which Hashrate Index estimates now contributes nearly 38% of total global hashrate and hosts at least 137 crypto-mining facilities, according to a 2024 report from the Energy Information Administration.
Industry advocates say this episode strengthens the case that miners act as “flexible load” for power systems instead of being pure parasites. Mining operations can absorb excess electricity from wind and solar during off-peak periods, then power down almost instantly when demand surges. Bitcoin ESG researcher Daniel Batten noted on X that demand response programs involving miners helped stabilize the Texas grid during the storm, as operators curtailed usage to free up capacity for households and critical infrastructure.
The hashrate shock comes as crypto prices trade in far calmer fashion. Bitcoin is changing hands near 88,261 dollars today, up modestly from roughly 86,567 dollars 24 hours earlier. Ether trades around 2,923 dollars, edging about 0.3% higher day-on-day. Solana sits near 124.3 dollars after a roughly 1.4% gain over the past 24 hours. For miners, however, the past weekend was less about price action and more about proving—once again—that their business is tightly coupled to real-world weather and grid conditions, not just digital charts.
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