Grid Instability Forces Massive Curtailment
Bitcoin’s network security just took its hardest hit in years. A severe winter storm sweeping the United States forced miners to power down en masse this weekend, slashing the global hashrate by nearly 40% in 48 hours. The network’s total computing power, which had recently established a baseline above 1 Zettahash per second (ZH/s), collapsed to a low of 663 EH/s on Sunday as operators in Texas and the Midwest curtailed usage to support failing energy grids.
Markets reacted swiftly. Bitcoin (BTC) struggled to hold the $89,000 level, trading sideways as traders assessed the network risk. The disruption highlights a critical centralization vector: despite the narrative of global distribution, the U.S. now commands roughly 38% of the global hashrate, making the network hypersensitive to North American weather events.
The Data: A 40% Haircut
The drop was instantaneous and severe. Data from Hashrate Index confirmed the vertical descent, with the 7-day moving average taking a sharp hit. The impact was most visible in domestic mining pools; Foundry USA, the world’s largest pool, saw its effective hashrate drop by nearly 60% according to ForkLog reporting. This isn’t just a blip. Block times stretched well beyond the 10-minute target, creating congestion and spiking fees.
“Approximately 40% of global Bitcoin mining capacity has gone offline in the past 24 hours… As energy demand surges, some mining operations reduce activity to ease pressure on regional power systems.” Abundant Mines Statement
Institutional Context: Difficulty Repricing
The protocol’s immune system is already reacting. With block production slowing, the network is pacing for a massive downward difficulty adjustment. Projections estimate a -16.7% correction at the next epoch, a move designed to lower the barrier for remaining miners and normalize block times. While this proves the network’s resilience, the scale of the drop forces a difficult conversation about the geographic concentration of industrial mining.
