Texas Ice Storm Cuts Bitcoin Hashrate by 39% as Miners Scale Back
Published at 2026-01-27 07:15:19
A severe ice storm across parts of Texas has prompted large mining operations to scale back or pause activity, driving a reported 39% plunge in Bitcoin's hashrate. Utility strain and sharply higher operating costs forced some facilities to curtail hashing to avoid outages and manage energy bills, creating a sudden capacity gap on the network.
The hit to hashrate matters because it temporarily reduces security and can slow block production until difficulty adjusts downward at the next retarget. Miners face elevated costs and downtime that could pressure margins and spark short-term market volatility for BTC, though most operators expect activity to resume as weather and grid conditions stabilize.
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