Across the US, the Arctic bomb cyclone that left dozens dead over the Christmas weekend also helped catalyze a nearly 40% drop in Bitcoin’s hash rate, as crypto miners shut off their mining projects to grapple with extreme weather.
Over a million Americans lost power throughout the weekend, setting up less than ideal conditions for Bitcoin miners to operate, given their reliance on large stores of electricity to mine cryptocurrency.
The hash rate refers to the overall computational power to carry out transactions on the blockchain and execute mining activities. Over the weekend, the number dipped to 38%, the largest one-day drop since June.
Multiple mining companies temporarily shut down their operations, including Core Scientific, which recently declared bankruptcy, and the Texas arm of Riot Blockchain.
“Due to extreme cold weather sweeping across the eastern and southern half of the US, we will be participating in multiple power curtailments to help stabilize the electrical grid. BTC production is expected to decrease during this time,” CoreScientific said:
The Rockdale, Texas operations of Riot Blockchain also said the extreme weather prompted it to close down “to ensure the safety of our team members”:
