Bad weather in the United States knocks Bitcoin hashrate

On December 24, the hashrate of the top cryptocurrency fell from 229 EH/s to 156 EH/s — about 32%. This occurred amid outages at several large mining facilities in the United States.

According to CNN, during the pre-Christmas period, strong winds and snowstorms damaged power lines in several regions. The drop in temperatures led to the deaths of at least 22 people.

Core Scientific had warned the day before the storm that it would participate in multiple power curtailments to help stabilise the grid.

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.

Wrap up and keep warm everyone. 🥶 pic.twitter.com/WGRgXp5tDB

— Core Scientific (@Core_Scientific) December 23, 2022

One of the largest North American miners reported producing 37.7 BTC on December 23. Production fell to 30 BTC the following day.

Compass Mining’s Chief Mining Operations Officer Neil Galloway also warned of possible outages:

“Please be prepared for some ups and downs this weekend as we deal with the winter storm. Our hosting partners and technicians are working in rough conditions, which may slow progress, but we are monitoring things over the weekend.”

Please be prepared for some ups and downs this weekend as we deal with the winter storm. Our hosting partners and technicians are working in rough conditions that may slow down progress but we are monitoring things throughout the weekend. This is what #bitcoin mining does…

— Neil Galloway 🧭 (@BitcoinNeil) December 23, 2022

Riot Blockchain, on the eve of Christmas, also said it would close its Rockdale facility in Texas due to extreme weather to ensure the safety of its workers.

Due to the extreme weather conditions in #Texas, we will be closing down our Rockdale Facility to ensure the safety of our team members. Stay tuned for updates.

— Riot Blockchain Inc. (@RiotBlockchain) December 21, 2022

The 7-day rolling average of network hashrate, as of December 13, fell from 267 EH/s to 229 EH/s.

As reported by Cambridge’s Centre for Alternative Finance, the United States accounts for 37,8% of Bitcoin hashrate, according to Cambridge University’s Centre for Alternative Finance.

Read ForkLog’s Bitcoin news in our Telegram — news, prices and analysis.