Due to the severe weather conditions in Texas, a number of miners were forced offline.
In 24 hours, the hashrate of Bitcoin decreased by 35% after numerous miners in the United States shut down their equipment due to severe winter storms.
On December 24, the hashrate decreased to 156 EH/s, according to BTC.com. Prior to it, the average hashrate for the preceding 14 days was 237 EH/s. Thousands of flights have been cancelled as a result of the winter storms in the United States.
Storm-related impacts, such as power disruptions, have forced Bitcoin miners to cease operations. According to the website monitoring utility PowerOutage, more than 1.4 million households and businesses are without power.
It is hardly unexpected that Bitcoin miners are ceasing operations in light of energy providers’ calls for power conservation. As of press time, the hashrate looks to have rebounded and is presently at 234,26 EH/s.
The dramatic fall in hashrate has prompted doubts about how centralised Bitcoin mining is and what this may imply for the network. Dennis Porter, CEO of Satoshi Act Fund, remarked that the network functioned as intended. He contrasted this to large digital corporations like Amazon and Google, stating that if one-third of their data centres went out, the consequences would be drastically different.
Porter cited the choice of data centre operator Lancium to cease operations as proof that miners are beneficial to the grid.
Since China’s prohibition on Bitcoin mining in 2021, the United States has assumed a greater role in Bitcoin mining. Several mining companies are headquartered in Texas because of the state’s inexpensive electricity and lenient restrictions; nonetheless, these companies tend to shut down when the grid needs climb dramatically.
In the meanwhile, FutureBit creator John Stefanop said that the hashrate decline is due to the centralization of miners.
Also Read: Ethereum Is Destined To Outperform Bitcoin, According To Bloomberg’s Top Strategist
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