Bitcoin mining slows down as winter storm hits US power grids

Over the weekend, the network hashrate for Bitcoin slowed down to roughly 663 exahashes per second. Down more than forty percent in two days.

A massive US winter storm knocked out power across more than three dozen states. It pushed crypto miners offline at scale.

By Monday, hashrate rebounded to about 854 exahashes per second, but the message was already delivered. This network now rides on American weather.

The storm cut electricity to around one million customers.

Mining data shows the slide started Friday and accelerated through Sunday. One Oregon miner estimated that about forty percent of global mining capacity went dark within twenty four hours.

The disruption behind the news: A stress test that exposed how centralized Bitcoin mining has become in the US.

Roughly 38% of global hashrate now sits in the US, based on estimates from Hashrate Index.

Federal data lists at least one hundred thirty seven mining facilities nationwide.

When a storm sweeps across the Midwest and South, the Bitcoin network feels it immediately. That was not true five years ago.

Yes, the network recovered. It always does. That is not the point.

The point is that a single regional shock took out nearly half of global production capacity in under two days. That is a governance and market problem, not a technical one.

Miners argue this is a feature, not a bug. They shut down voluntarily as power demand surged, acting as flexible load for stressed grids. Analysts say demand response programs helped stabilize Texas during the storm. That can be true and still miss the bigger issue.

Here is the real disruption.

Bitcoin security, issuance timing, and miner revenue are now materially exposed to US grid events. When hashrate drops 40%, block times slow, transaction backlogs grow, and daily coin production falls. Crypto data shows output dropped sharply at several major US miners during the storm. That is lost revenue that does not come back.

For businesses built on predictable settlement, that matters. For miners running on thin margins, it matters more. And for regulators watching energy markets, this just handed them proof that crypto mining is now a controllable industrial load, not some abstract digital activity.

Large miners can afford sophisticated power contracts and rapid shutdown systems. Smaller operators cannot. Every grid event widens that gap. Over time, that pushes more hashrate into fewer hands, clustered in fewer regions, tied to fewer utilities.

What to watch next

First, expect miners to lean harder into demand response deals.

This storm validated the pitch. Miners that can shut down in seconds will get cheaper power. Those that cannot will be priced out.

Second, watch geographic diversification.

If hashrate stays this US heavy, markets will start pricing in weather risk. That means higher volatility around extreme climate events and more incentive to build in colder, more stable regions outside the US.

Third, watch regulators.

When forty percent of a global network goes offline and the lights stay on because miners powered down, policymakers notice. That cuts both ways. Favorable treatment for compliant miners comes with tighter oversight.

Bitcoin did not break this weekend. But it showed its weak spots clearly. A network this big cannot pretend geography does not matter anymore.