Winter Storm Forces Major US Bitcoin Mining Operations to Cut Hashrate by 60%

A severe winter storm sweeping across the United States has forced major Bitcoin mining operations to dramatically scale back their activities, with Foundry USA reducing its hashrate by approximately 60% since Friday, according to industry reports.

The world's largest mining pool operator has curtailed nearly 200 exahashes per second (EH/s) of computing power in response to Winter Storm Fern, which has brought snow, ice, and freezing rain across the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest regions. Despite the reduction, Foundry USA maintains roughly 198 EH/s, representing about 23% of global mining pool capacity.

The temporary slowdown has extended block production times to approximately 12 minutes. Other US-based mining pools, including Luxor, have implemented similar curtailments to alleviate stress on electrical grid infrastructure during the emergency.

The storm, spanning an estimated 1,800 miles, has caused widespread power outages affecting over one million residents. Bitcoin mining operations routinely adjust their energy consumption during peak demand periods or grid emergencies, serving as a controllable load resource that can be quickly powered down to redirect electricity to consumers when needed.

This voluntary curtailment demonstrates the industry's ability to support grid stability during extreme weather events by reducing their substantial power requirements during critical periods.