Short Description: Bitcoin mining faces its steepest downturn in years as a severe U.S. winter storm crashes hashrate, slashing revenue and production, signaling a major stress test for the industry.
Read Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Main Article
The Bitcoin network has been rocked by its most severe mining activity drop since late 2021, a crisis triggered by extreme weather disrupting America’s key mining hubs. This sudden shock has forced major firms to curtail operations to protect infrastructure and support grid stability, leading to a sharp 12% plunge in the global network hashrate to levels not seen since September 2025. The resulting collapse in computational power has directly eroded the foundational economics of the industry, with daily bitcoin mining revenue nosediving from approximately $45 million to a yearly low of $28 million in just 48 hours.
This operational turmoil has decimated production output. The largest public miners saw their daily bitcoin output fall from 77 to just 28 coins, a trend mirrored across the wider network. On a rolling 30-day basis, this marks the steepest production decline since mid-2024. Compounding the physical disruptions is a significant drop in profitability. Key metrics, like CryptoQuant’s Miner Profit and Loss Sustainability Index, have fallen to deeply stressed levels last observed in late 2024, indicating that a growing portion of the network is struggling to cover operational costs despite recent downward difficulty adjustments.
While the Bitcoin difficulty has automatically lowered in response to the hashrate exodus, the relief has been insufficient to offset the twin pressures of lower bitcoin prices and forced shutdowns. The current situation presents one of the most formidable challenges for miners since China’s 2021 ban. If suppressed hashrate conditions persist, the network is poised for further automatic difficulty reductions in the coming weeks, which could provide a critical margin lifeline for surviving operations navigating this perfect storm.
Short Summary
A severe U.S. winter storm has forced a major contraction in Bitcoin mining activity, crashing the network hashrate by 12% and decimating miner revenue and production. This has created one of the sector’s most stressful periods since 2021, with profitability indices at distressed levels. While automatic difficulty adjustments offer some future relief, miners face significant operational and financial headwinds in the near term.
