Winter Storm Devastates U.S. Mining Farms: Foundry USA Hashrate Plummets 60%. What Does the Bitcoin Network Reveal Behind the Scenes?

American mining giant Foundry USA suddenly shut down approximately 60% of its Bitcoin mining machines. Foundry USA’s Bitcoin hash rate has decreased by nearly 200 EH/s, dropping from about 328 EH/s to 198 EH/s.

This is not due to a network attack or technical failure, but the result of a deadly winter storm “Fern” sweeping across large parts of the United States. The storm caused power outages for over 1 million residents and forced major Bitcoin mining farms, heavily reliant on the grid, to scale back operations urgently.

Storm Impact

The US mining landscape is experiencing a dramatic change triggered by extreme weather. A powerful winter storm called “Fern” is sweeping across the United States. From the Southeast to the Northeast, and then to the Midwest, this storm has brought a mix of heavy snow, hail, and freezing rain. The affected area spans approximately 1,800 miles, making it enormous.

The direct consequence of the storm is infrastructure paralysis, with over 1 million residents nationwide losing power. Faced with such a large-scale power shortage and grid stress, large electricity consumers have had to make adjustments.

Mining Load Reduction

The world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool, Foundry USA, chose to proactively reduce its operations in the face of the storm. Since last Friday, the pool’s hash rate has dropped by about 60%. Data shows this means its hash rate has decreased by nearly 200 EH/s, currently maintaining around 198 EH/s.

Despite this, Foundry USA still accounts for 23% of the total global mining pool hash rate. This proportion highlights its critical position in the Bitcoin network and explains the potential chain reaction caused by this hash rate decline.

To better illustrate the impact of this hash rate change, here is a comparison of key operational data for Foundry USA before and after the storm:

Grid Balancing

Interestingly, this crisis has unexpectedly highlighted the potential value of Bitcoin mining as a “grid flexible regulator.” Bitcoin mining facilities are highly controllable electrical loads capable of quickly adjusting power consumption based on grid demand.

In emergency situations where grid stress increases sharply due to the storm, miners actively shutting down machines essentially reduce grid load, ensuring power supply to civilian and critical infrastructure. When electricity supply exceeds demand, mining farms can operate to absorb surplus energy that might otherwise be wasted; when power is tight, they can quickly reduce or cease consumption.

Industry Impact

Foundry USA is not the only operator affected. Other pools serving US users, such as Luxor, have also implemented hash rate reductions. This large-scale proactive shutdown reveals a key vulnerability in US Bitcoin mining—its high dependence on traditional power grids. Over 37% of Bitcoin hash rate is located in the US, and extreme weather events can significantly impact this portion.

It is worth noting that although Foundry USA’s hash rate has dropped sharply, the overall resilience of the Bitcoin network has been validated. The pool’s temporary block production time only slowed from the normal 10 minutes to 12 minutes. This indicates that the Bitcoin network has enough decentralization resilience; a large-scale shutdown of a single pool does not cause catastrophic network effects.

Price and Market Correlation

Major changes in industry fundamentals are usually quickly reflected in market prices. According to Gate data, as of January 26, 2026, Bitcoin’s price is $87,618, down 1.73% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum’s price is $2,864.76, down 3.04% in the same period. Although both major cryptocurrencies have declined, attributing this entirely to hash rate changes may be overly simplistic.

The crypto market is influenced by multiple factors, including macroeconomic conditions, regulatory developments, and broader market sentiment. Short-term price fluctuations are often driven by complex market psychology and liquidity changes. It is worth noting that a significant drop in Bitcoin’s hash rate could temporarily reduce network security, but this impact is usually short-term, and markets tend to quickly digest this information once miners resume operations.

Outlook and Insights

As climate change intensifies, similar extreme weather events may become more frequent, posing long-term challenges for mining regions with high concentration. This trend could push Bitcoin mining toward more diversified energy sources and geographically dispersed locations.

Miners might seek closer integration with renewable energy sources (like solar and wind) or distribute operations across different climate zones to reduce risks of similar power outages. From a positive perspective, this event also demonstrates Bitcoin network’s core advantages—decentralization and resilience. Even with a 60% reduction in the largest pool’s hash rate, the Bitcoin network continues to operate, with only minor block production delays.

Bitcoin’s price fluctuated slightly 24 hours after the hash rate plunged from $87,618. The overall network hash rate distribution shows a noticeable contraction of the large share previously held by Foundry USA. However, on the same day, hash rates of several medium-sized pools in Kazakhstan and Canada increased modestly. A small mining operation supported by hydroelectric power in Norway quietly increased its hash rate by 15%, packaging three Bitcoin blocks at slightly above normal prices. The Foundry USA team is monitoring weather changes, and those dormant miners are ready to restart at any moment, rejoining the global Bitcoin hash rate flow.