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27 Jan 2026, 07:15
Bitcoin Hashrate Plunges as Texas Miners Forced Offline by Ice Storm
Bitcoin network hashrate, which can also be considered as computing horsepower, has tanked since its October peak. When it drops sharply, it means miners are reducing their activity by voluntarily shutting down machines. “That’s exactly what we’re seeing today,” observed CryptoQuant analyst ‘Darkfost,’ who said that the hashrate has fallen from 1.133 ZH/s to 690 EH/s in just two days. Blockchain.com reports a higher figure for the 7-day moving average total hash rate of 950 exahashes per second; however, this is a lagging indicator. Severe Storm Hampers Hashrate The analyst said that a severe ice storm is hitting the United States, which hosts about one-third of global Bitcoin mining operations. The extreme cold has forced miners, particularly in Texas, where major players like MARA and Foundry Digital operate, to shut down mining rigs. The storm is also causing power grid disruptions and electricity cost spikes, leading to longer block times and an expected mining difficulty reduction of around 4.5%. The US Department of Energy issued emergency orders that allowed Texas grid operators to tap additional backup resources during the cold snap. The analyst warned that this could lead to more selling pressure if miners were forced to sell BTC to cover costs while they wait out the storm. “This period of stress could even trigger some BTC selling if the storm were to persist, as miners may still need to cover fixed operating costs while waiting for conditions to normalize.” Analysts have also observed that down-trending hashrates mirror price action, which will not improve until hash power recovers. Meanwhile, network hashprice, which refers to the expected value of 1 TH/s of hashing power per day, is also at rock bottom at $0.039 per TH/s per day as miners struggle to turn a profit. Watching a multi-hundred exahash drop in hashrate not only shows how much of it is located in the Southern and Southeastern US, but also how much there is to be sold off should AI replace those facilities. pic.twitter.com/Zy8tlZtibx — Rob Warren (@robertwarren) January 26, 2026 No Recovery For Bitcoin As if there wasn’t enough crypto FUD, tanking hashrates have prevented any Bitcoin recovery this week. BTC reclaimed $88,500 during the Tuesday morning Asian trading session, but the asset remains down 4.5% since the same time last week. It remains within the lower bounds of a three-month sideways channel and once again found support, but upside moves are very limited at the moment as bearish sentiment persists . The post Bitcoin Hashrate Plunges as Texas Miners Forced Offline by Ice Storm appeared first on CryptoPotato .
27 Jan 2026, 06:30
Bitcoin Hashrate Drops to Seven-Month Low as US Winter Storm Disrupts Mining
Bitcoin’s network hashrate fell to its lowest level in seven months over the weekend as a powerful winter storm swept across the United States, forcing miners to scale back operations amid surging energy demand and widespread power disruptions. Key Takeaways: A US winter storm pushed Bitcoin’s hashrate to a seven-month low as miners curtailed operations to ease grid strain. Network power fell over 40% before partially recovering. Miners scaled back operations to help stabilize electricity grids. According to AccuWeather, the massive storm system impacted more than three dozen US states, bringing heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures that left around one million customers without power. The extreme conditions placed additional strain on regional electricity grids, prompting some Bitcoin miners to curtail activity to help stabilize supply. Bitcoin Hashrate Slides More Than 40% Over Weekend Before Rebounding Data from mining analytics platform CoinWarz shows that Bitcoin’s hashrate began sliding on Friday before plunging sharply over the weekend. By Sunday, the network’s computing power had dropped to roughly 663 exahashes per second (EH/s), representing a decline of more than 40% in just two days. The hashrate has since rebounded, climbing back to around 854 EH/s as of Monday. Oregon-based miner Abundant Mines said the scale of the disruption was significant. “Approximately 40% of global Bitcoin mining capacity has gone offline in the past 24 hours due to extreme winter weather,” the company said, adding that many operators voluntarily reduced output as energy demand spiked. The firm described this responsiveness as a structural advantage of Bitcoin mining, noting that operations can shut down quickly during grid stress and restart once conditions normalize. https://twitter.com/AbundantMines/status/2015565916344639732?s=20 The US accounts for the largest share of global Bitcoin mining activity. Estimates from the Hashrate Index suggest the country contributes nearly 38% of the network’s total hashrate, while a 2024 report from the Energy Information Administration identified at least 137 crypto-mining facilities nationwide. Industry advocates argue that miners play an increasingly important role in grid stability by acting as flexible energy consumers. Bitcoin Miners Help Stabilize Texas Power Grid During Winter Storm Mining operations can absorb excess electricity generated by wind or solar installations and rapidly power down during periods of peak demand. Bitcoin ESG researcher Daniel Batten said on X that demand response programs involving miners helped stabilize the Texas grid during the storm. Bitcoin mining (demand response) and batteries worked together to stabilize Texas' grid in the face of recent extreme weather https://t.co/13hz6bp03K — Daniel Batten (@DSBatten) January 26, 2026 The weather event also weighed on Bitcoin production. CryptoQuant analyst Julio Moreno said daily output dropped sharply at several major US mining firms. According to a recent analysis by independent researcher Daniel Batten, Bitcoin mining can strengthen electrical grids and lower consumer electricity costs rather than strain power systems. His research challenges common claims that mining destabilizes grids or drives up energy prices, drawing on peer-reviewed studies and operational data to argue that the industry’s flexible power usage can provide measurable system benefits. The post Bitcoin Hashrate Drops to Seven-Month Low as US Winter Storm Disrupts Mining appeared first on Cryptonews .
27 Jan 2026, 04:00
Bitcoin Hashrate Slides As Foundry USA Loses 200 EH/s In US Cold Snap
Data shows Foundry USA, the biggest Bitcoin mining pool in the world, has lost a significant portion of its Hashrate to the US winter storm. Foundry USA Has Seen A Bitcoin Hashrate Decline Of 200 EH/s The United States is currently experiencing an extreme weather event, with a powerful winter storm sweeping across much of the country. The Arctic air accompanying the storm has brought with it a severe drop in temperatures, causing widespread disruptions to travel and power infrastructure. Thousands of flights have been canceled nationwide, while the strain on the power grid has left more than 800,000 homes without access to electricity, according to a report from the BBC. Amid all this chaos, the Bitcoin blockchain has also faced a noticeable blow; the cryptocurrency’s Hashrate has sharply gone down as American miners have curtailed power consumption to ease pressure on the grid. A mining pool that has been significantly affected by the storm is Foundry USA . On Friday, the pool had a total computing power of around 340 exahashes per second (EH/s), while as of Monday, that figure has reduced to just 139 EH/s, according to data from MiningPoolStats . Before the storm disruption, Foundry’s pool was the largest in the world by some distance, but after the Hashrate drop of almost 60%, its power has come in line with the second-largest Antpool. Due to Foundry being so big, its miners pulling back on power has had a real effect on the total network Hashrate, as data from CoinWarz shows. Before the weekend, the Bitcoin Hashrate was floating around 1,118 EH/s, but on Sunday it dropped to a low of just 668 EH/s. The metric has seen a rebound on Monday, but its latest value of 776 EH/s is still down more than 30%. The result? The blockchain is processing each block in an average interval of 12.28 minutes, which is 2.28 minutes slower than the expected rate of 10 minutes. While the storm has impaired Bitcoin for now, the network won’t take long to bounce back. Even in the scenario that Foundry USA’s downtime remains prolonged, BTC will correct for the absence of American miners in the next Difficulty adjustment. Satoshi Nakamoto programmed BTC so that the network always targets a block time of 10 minutes. If miners diverge from this rate, the network adjusts a metric known as the “Difficulty” just enough that miners get back to the desired speed. Given the scale of the latest Hashrate drop, a sustained disruption would mean that the Bitcoin blockchain would be forced to ease up its Difficulty by a significant factor. Currently, the next network adjustment is estimated to reduce Difficulty by 18%. BTC Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $87,700, down 5.7% in the last week.
27 Jan 2026, 03:40
Bitcoin hashrate briefly drops to mid-2025 levels amid US winter storm
Bitcoin mining data platform Hashrate Index estimates the United States contributes the largest amount of the world’s mining power, with nearly 38% of the global hashrate.
26 Jan 2026, 22:22
Bitcoin Miners Power Down US Operations in Wake of Winter Storm
The fallout from the arctic blast that swept across the US is prompting some large-scale Bitcoin mining companies to shutter parts of their energy-intensive operations as electricity costs surge.
26 Jan 2026, 20:30
Data center construction in the USA expanded to $42B annualized by October 2025
Data center construction jumped by 18.5% year-on-year in October 2025, reaching $42B annualized. Digital infrastructure almost caught up with the $45B spent on office buildings. Spending on data center construction expanded in 2025, on track to soon surpass new office construction. Spending on data centers tripled since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. At the same time, new office construction slowed down by 40%, tracking the already weakening post-pandemic market. Spending on infrastructure had a major shift in the US market , reversing the previously peak level of office construction. If the growth rate for data center construction is preserved, the spending will surpass office building investments by the end of 2026. Data center construction accelerated rapidly Data center construction accelerated rapidly from a low baseline. With just $1.4B in construction in 2014, 2025 turned into a record year. The planning of data centers is already shaping business decisions across industries, as the new construction competes with the plans for offices, warehouses, and industrial construction. Land and power source decisions are also key, as new high-capacity compute centers are being planned. Rough estimates of costs for data centers range between $600 to $1,100 per square foot, including equipment peripherals. Large data centers can cost between $250M to $500M, while small facilities can reach $2M to $5M. The biggest effect of planned data centers will be their electricity demand. The share of data centers may rise from roughly 2% today to 9% by 2050. Data centers are already making up a significant share of electricity usage in some regions. The effect of data center construction is also affecting commodity markets like copper, as well as some precious metals. The effect goes beyond the elevated price of computational components, memory, and other elements of AI computation. On a global scale, data center construction is expected to reach $300B in 2026, and over $760B by 2035. The USA remains a leader, with the fastest available financing and suitable locations. Bottlenecks may include energy contracts, copper prices, and even local opposition to data centers due to pollution and water consumption. Former crypto firms boost data center construction Former crypto firms, which also supplied cloud computing, are one of the drivers behind large-scale data center construction. Applied Digital, formerly Applied Blockchain, is among the planners of some of the biggest US data centers. Applied Digital recently started the construction of a 430 MW data center, building a campus at an undisclosed location in the USA. Following the news, APLD shares recovered to $37.01, trading near their all-time peak. IREN is the other former mining company planning several large-scale 2GW and 750 MW data centers in Texas and other locations, with expected expansions of existing data, cloud, and mining centers. The focus on data centers also boosted IREN stock to $52.52, near its higher range for the past 12 months. Want your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.
