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U.S. Winter Storm Causes Sharpest Bitcoin Hash Rate Drop Since 2021

U.S. Winter Storm Causes Sharpest Bitcoin Hash Rate Drop Since 2021

Severe U.S. winter storms have cut Bitcoin’s hashrate by 12% since November, disrupting mining output and revenue to the lowest levels in over a year, according to CryptoQuant.

BTC

Fact Check
The statement is strongly supported by a high degree of consensus across multiple primary sources, especially those with the highest authority. The most credible sources, including CoinDesk and a syndicated article on Yahoo Finance, directly and explicitly corroborate all parts of the claim: that a U.S. winter storm caused a significant drop in the Bitcoin hashrate (around 12%) and that this drop was the most severe since the China mining ban in 2021. Other crypto-focused news outlets like Tokenpost provide direct confirmation of these same facts.While there is a minor discrepancy in the exact percentage of the drop reported (one source mentions 32% over three days, while others cite 12%), this does not undermine the core assertion that the drop was significant and caused by the storm. Furthermore, some lower-relevance sources from Binance confirm the magnitude of the drop and the timeframe (largest since late 2021) but omit the cause. This omission does not contradict the other sources; it simply provides less complete information. There is no conflicting evidence suggesting an alternative cause or that a larger drop occurred in the specified timeframe. The overwhelming weight and consistency of the evidence from credible financial and crypto news platforms make the original statement highly likely to be true.
Summary

Bitcoin’s hashrate has fallen about 12% since November 11, now near 970 EH/s, marking the largest drop since October 2021 due to extreme U.S. winter storms. The weather forced major public miners to halt operations, slashing production from 77 BTC/day to 28 BTC/day and cutting total daily mining revenue from $45 million to $28 million, the lowest in a year. CryptoQuant’s Miner Profit and Loss Sustainability Index dropped to 21, its lowest since November 2024, indicating severe financial strain despite recent difficulty reductions. Public miners saw a 48 BTC drop in 30-day output, while non-public miners fell by 215 BTC, underscoring one of the most challenging periods for miners since the post-China ban recovery.

Terms & Concepts
  • Hash Rate: A measure of computational power used to validate and secure transactions on a blockchain network like Bitcoin.
  • Miner Profit and Loss Sustainability Index: A metric by CryptoQuant gauging whether miners’ revenues can sustain operational costs, with lower readings indicating financial stress.
  • Difficulty Adjustment: A mechanism in Bitcoin’s protocol that modifies mining difficulty to keep block production intervals consistent despite changes in network hash rate.