Bitcoin hashrate falls 40% during the holidays
Bitcoin hashrate plunged massively during Christmas.
During Christmas, Bitcoin's hashrate plunged massively. The reason: extreme weather in the U.S. forced several mining companies to temporarily suspend operations.
According to Glassnode data, network hashrate fell from 252 EH/s on Dec 21 to 156 EH/s on Dec 24, a drop of nearly 40%. The volatility's move has not yet affected the BTC price.
One reason for the network’s collapse was the extreme weather in the U.S., which cut power to several mining companies. Riot Blockchain paused operations last Friday, December 23, to "ensure the safety of team members," it said in a View post on X.
Core Scientific also announced: "Due to the extremely cold weather sweeping across the eastern and southern halves of the U.S., we will participate in various power-constraining measures to help stabilize the grid." The mining company recently filed for bankruptcy but continues its mining operations and is trying to reach an agreement with creditors during the insolvency process. Earlier, Core Scientific posted high gains. Read more here.
The Bitcoin network hashrate has since recovered to 226 EH/s, according to IntoTheBlock data. That’s comparable to about 316 EH/s on Oct 31. In two months, total network compute power has fallen by nearly 30%.
Meanwhile, the industry faces another issue: with Bitcoin price falling and energy costs rising, mining companies are coming under increasing pressure.
