Winter Storm in the U.S. Hits Bitcoin Miners Hard

A powerful winter storm that swept across the United States in January dealt a heavy blow to the Bitcoin mining network. Data published by Cryptoquant shows a sharp decline in computing power, production, and miner revenues across the entire network.

Extreme weather conditions led to widespread power outages, forcing several major U.S.-based mining companies to scale back operations. As a result, the global hashrate fell by around 12%, marking the steepest drop since October 2021. Total network power sank to its lowest level since September 2025. According to analysts, the storm intensified challenges that had already been building within the sector.

Even before the weather disruption, hashrate had been steadily declining as Bitcoin’s price corrected from around $126,000 toward the $100,000 level. At the same time, elevated mining difficulty continued to put pressure on miners’ profitability.

Mining revenues suffered a similar downturn. Daily income dropped from roughly $45 million on January 22 to a yearly low of $28 million just two days later. By January 26, revenues partially recovered to about $34 million, but still remained well below pre-storm levels.

Production at the largest publicly listed mining companies fell from 77 to 28 bitcoins per day. Other miners reduced output from 403 to 209 bitcoins daily. On a 30-day basis, this marked the sharpest decline since mid-2024, shortly after the most recent halving.

Another warning sign is the miner profitability index, which dropped to 21 — its lowest reading since November 2024. According to Cryptoquant, this indicates that miners are currently severely undercompensated relative to Bitcoin’s price and network difficulty. Even several recent difficulty adjustments have failed to materially improve conditions.

Analysts also point out that the concentration of large-scale mining operations in the United States increases the network’s exposure to regional disruptions. A recovery in profitability will depend on stable energy supplies, improved price conditions, and the time required for network difficulty to fully adjust.