Bitcoin’s network hashrate fell to a seven-month low over the weekend as a powerful winter storm swept across the United States, forcing miners to scale back operations to help stabilize the power grid.
According to AccuWeather, the storm impacted more than three dozen states, bringing heavy snow and ice and triggering power outages that affected roughly one million energy customers.
Data from mining analytics platform CoinWarz shows Bitcoin’s hashrate began declining on Friday and dropped to 663 exahashes per second (EH/s) by Sunday—representing a more than 40% reduction over two days.
The network has since started to recover, with hashrate rebounding to around 854 EH/s as of Monday.
“Approximately 40% of global Bitcoin mining capacity has gone offline in the past 24 hours due to extreme winter weather,” Oregon-based Bitcoin miner Abundant Mines said.
“As energy demand surges, some mining operations reduce activity to ease pressure on regional power systems and support critical infrastructure. This flexibility is a built-in strength of Bitcoin mining. It can scale down quickly when needed and resume just as fast when conditions allow.”
The United States accounts for the largest share of global Bitcoin mining power, with data from the Hashrate Index estimating the country contributes nearly 38% of the worldwide hashrate.
A 2024 report from the US Energy Information Administration found that there are more than 137 crypto-mining facilities operating across the country.
Miners help stabilize the grid
Bitcoin miners can support grid stability through load balancing, rapidly adjusting their power consumption as supply and demand shift. Many mining operations are co-located near wind or solar installations, allowing them to absorb excess generation and shut down when grid conditions tighten.
Bitcoin advocates, including environmental, social, and governance researcher Daniel Batten, said in an X post on Monday that Bitcoin mining and demand-response programs worked together in Texas to help stabilize the power grid during the extreme weather.
Winter storm disrupts Bitcoin production
The winter storm also reduced daily Bitcoin production at several of the largest US mining firms, according to CryptoQuant analyst Julio Moreno, citing data from the analytics platform.
Marathon Digital Holdings saw its daily output fall from 45 Bitcoin the previous day to just seven, while IREN’s production dropped from 18 Bitcoin to six.
