US Winter Storm Knocks Bitcoin Mining Network Offline, 40% of Global Capacity Briefly Goes Dark

A US winter storm knocked Bitcoin hashrate to a 7-month low, dropping by 40% in two days to 663 EH/s. Miners powered down to ease grid stress, with Abundant Mines estimating 40% of global capacity briefly offline. Despite the shock, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana prices remained relatively stable. The storm highlighted miners' role as "flexible load" during grid stress, and their ability to absorb excess electricity and power down rapidly when needed.