​BTC hashrate drops by 34% in 24 hours because of the mass shutdown of miners in the United States

What’s new? Analyst Colin Wu, citing data from BTC.com, has reported that on December 24, BTC’s hashrate dropped by 34% to 156 EH/s, with an average of 237 EH/s. This came after companies shut down mining rigs due to a snowstorm in the United States. As of 07:50 UTC, the network’s hashrate is 228,47 EH/s and the bitcoin mining difficulty is 35,36 T.

According to https://t.co/1YRYr58LB6, due to the spread of the blizzard in the U.S., many miners shut down, the Bitcoin network hashrate has dropped by nearly 35% in the last day, showing only 156 EH/s. The average hashrate over the past 14d is 237 EH/s. https://t.co/nQejClV6uq — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 25, 2022

Hashrate is the total computational power in the bitcoin network. The mining difficulty determines the amount of computing power it takes to find a new block in the blockchain. The parameter changes every 2016 blocks, or about once every two weeks. This ensures that the time it takes to find a block is around 10 minutes.

Which companies have shut down rigs? One of the largest cryptocurrency mining companies, Core Scientific, said that it will shut down some facilities to stabilize the network. In this regard, representatives of the firm warned that BTC mining will slow down. Core Scientific previously filed for bankruptcy.

Due to extreme cold weather sweeping across the eastern and southern half of the US, we will be participating in multiple power curtailments to help stabilize the electrical grid. BTC production is expected to decrease during this time. Wrap up and keep warm everyone. 🥶 pic.twitter.com/WGRgXp5tDB — Core Scientific (@Core_Scientific) December 23, 2022

Riot Blockchain also made a similar statement. The company notified of the closure of its Rockdale facility “due to the extreme weather conditions in Texas” in order “to ensure the safety of our team members.”

Due to the extreme weather conditions in #Texas, we will be closing down our Rockdale Facility to ensure the safety of our team members. Stay tuned for updates. — Riot Blockchain Inc. (@RiotBlockchain) December 21, 2022

Earlier, WSJ reporters reported on the massive sale of cryptocurrency mining rigs by companies. The forced measure is designed to at least partially cover losses from the fall in the digital asset market.

In early December, Bloomberg reported that the mining companies owed creditors more than $4 billion and are forced to give away devices provided as collateral.