Hurricane Fernan causes severe disruption to Bitcoin mining operations in the US

The winter storm named Fernan is sweeping across the United States and has caused significant disruptions to Bitcoin mining operations. According to the latest data, the hashrate of the largest Bitcoin mining pool in the US – Foundry USA – has decreased by approximately 60% since Friday, due to severe weather conditions forcing many facilities to temporarily shut down.

It is estimated that around 200 EH/s of hashrate has gone offline, causing Bitcoin block times to slow down, averaging up to 12 minutes per block, compared to the usual approximately 10 minutes. Currently, Foundry USA controls about 198 EH/s, accounting for 23% of the total global hashrate.

Not only Foundry, but many other mining pools in the US are also affected. Miners are forced to adjust their energy consumption levels to reduce the load on the power grid amid a snowstorm that has caused power outages for over 1 million people across the country.