The bitcoin mining hashrate took a sharp nosedive as a historic storm swept through multiple US states. As a result, power grids consolidated power to provide enough energy for residents to heat their homes and some mining operations had to be halted to free up more electricity. Since then, the hashrate has risen, but the worst may not be over yet.
Bitcoin Hashrate is taking a beating
Power grids in the United States came under tremendous strain as the country recorded one of its coldest winters on record. Temperatures dropped drastically in several states and the power grid was stretched thin to provide enough energy to heat homes. As a result, a number of bitcoin miners decided to pause their operations to release some energy and this affected the hashrate contributed by the country.
On Christmas Day, the global hashrate had tanked almost 40%, falling from the December 24 peak of 276 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 175 EH/s. However, there was a 39% increase in hashrate on the same day, bringing it back to about 244 EH/s.
BTC mining hashrate sees sharp decline on Christmas Day | Source: CoinWarz
Since then, the hash rate has continued to fluctuate from day to day and has now fallen back to the level of 212 EH/s. This shows that while miners may have turned some of their machines back on, they may shut them down again if the extremely cold weather continues.
How long is this gonna take?
Winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research Judah Cohen said the Arctic blast currently being experienced in the United States should be short-lived, lasting about a week for temperatures to return to normal.
BTC price maintains momentum above $16,800 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
However, this will take a few more days before it is expected to disappear completely. This is evidenced by the zigzag recovery and declines in the bitcoin hashrate in the last two days after December 25. Miners who have taken their activities offline to help stabilize the power grid are likely to keep them offline for a while until authorities are satisfied that things have stabilized again. An example of this was in July when Riot Blockchain had to shut down its mining machines in Texas as the state experienced a heat wave.
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Given this, bitcoin mining hashrate is expected to remain low for a few more days before bouncing back up. As for the miners, given that Riot had received $9.5 million in energy credits for shutting down operations in July, it’s possible some sort of compensation will be offered to the miners.
Featured image from Crypto News, chart from TradingView.com