US winter storm cuts Bitcoin hashrate by 40% as Texas miners curtail power use

A severe winter storm in the US between 23 and 25 January drove a roughly 40% drop in Bitcoin hashrate, with about 455 EH/s going offline as many miners shut down operations. Large mining firms in Texas used demand-response and curtailment programs to free grid capacity, slowing block times to around 12 minutes but underscoring Bitcoin mining's role as a flexible energy load.