A brutal Arctic blast sweeping across the United States is doing more than freezing roads and grounding flights—it’s temporarily reshaping the Bitcoin network itself.
As temperatures plunged well below freezing across large swaths of the country, Bitcoin miners shut down an estimated 110 exahashes per second (EH/s) of computing power, one of the largest coordinated mining curtailments since the Texas grid crisis of 2021. The sudden pullback slowed Bitcoin’s block production to roughly 12 minutes, highlighting just how closely the world’s largest cryptocurrency is now tied to America’s power infrastructure.
One of the Biggest Hashrate Drops Since 2021
According to The Miner Mag, the scale of the shutdowns is extraordinary.
Real-time data shows:
FoundryUSA, the largest Bitcoin mining pool, saw its hashrate plunge nearly 60%, falling from about 340 EH/s to 242 EH/s in just days
Luxor experienced a similar hit, dropping from roughly 45 EH/s to 26 EH/s
Smaller declines appeared across Antpool and Binance Pool, which are less concentrated in the U.S.
Because many American miners operate across multiple pools, analysts believe the true curtailment may exceed the initial 110 EH/s estimate.
The result? A measurable slowdown in Bitcoin’s heartbeat as blocks took longer to confirm—an uncommon but telling signal of stress at the infrastructure level.
Why Miners Voluntarily Pulled the Plug
This wasn’t a system failure. It was a strategic shutdown.
The Arctic air mass pushed snow, ice, and subzero temperatures deep into the central and eastern United States, driving heating demand sharply higher. Grid operators across several states issued power conservation alerts, urging large consumers to reduce load.
Bitcoin miners responded almost immediately.
Unlike traditional factories or refineries, many U.S. mining operations are enrolled in demand response programs, allowing grid operators to request rapid curtailments during periods of stress. In exchange, miners receive financial incentives or preferential power pricing.
This flexibility marks a dramatic shift from 2021, when Texas’s grid collapsed under Winter Storm Uri.
Texas Grid Holds—A Stark Contrast to 2021
Despite the extreme cold, ERCOT, Texas’s grid operator, reported that conditions remained stable.
That’s no accident.
Since 2021, Texas has added substantial large-load capacity, much of it tied to Bitcoin mining and data centers designed to be interruptible. These flexible loads act like shock absorbers for the grid—powerful enough to matter, but quick to shut off when needed.
The Miner Mag noted that this infrastructure simply did not exist during the 2021 crisis, when widespread blackouts left millions without power for days.
Miners Say They’re Ready—and Watching Closely
Singapore-based miner Bitdeer, which operates more than 293,000 mining rigs globally, including facilities in Texas, said it does not expect major disruptions from the storm.
A company spokesperson explained that ERCOT classifies Bitcoin miners as “large flexible loads,” meaning they can curtail electricity usage on request—unlike industrial users with fixed power needs.
“Bitdeer stands ready to fully support the grid should supply constraints occur,” the spokesperson said.
That readiness is now being tested at scale.
A Network Already Under Pressure
The storm hit at a time when Bitcoin’s mining economics were already strained.
Before the Arctic blast:
The seven-day average network hashrate had fallen to about 992 EH/s
That’s down roughly 13.7% from the all-time high above 1.15 zettahashes per second reached in October
The decline follows a nearly 30% drop in Bitcoin’s price from its October peak, squeezing miners by reducing revenue per unit of computing power while competition for block rewards remains intense.
The weather shock only amplified those pressures.
A Storm Threatening 60 Million People
The scale of the storm itself is staggering.
According to AccuWeather, the system stretches nearly 1,800 miles, from far west Texas to the mid-Atlantic, threatening up to 60 million people across more than a dozen states.
Meteorologists warn:
Around 60 million people will face icing conditions
As many as 1 million could be without power for extended periods
Some outages may last days as Arctic air surges behind the storm
Compounding the risk, areas hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September 2024 still rely on temporary power lines that are more vulnerable to ice and wind—particularly in North Carolina and surrounding states.
Thousands of flights have already been canceled, and AccuWeather warns that interstate closures could disrupt entire supply chains, threatening shortages of essentials and pharmaceuticals in the hardest-hit regions.
Why This Matters for Bitcoin’s Future
The United States now controls an estimated 38% of global Bitcoin hashrate, making American mining operations critical to the network’s security and stability.
This Arctic blast revealed two important truths:
Bitcoin mining is deeply intertwined with national energy systems
Flexible, grid-aware mining may actually strengthen infrastructure resilience
While the temporary slowdown grabbed headlines, the network continued to function—blocks kept coming, and miners responded as designed.
In the coldest test yet of America’s Bitcoin mining backbone, the system bent—but didn’t break.