Bitcoin Hashrate Plummets as Texas Miners Forced Offline by Ice Storm

A winter storm in the US state of Texas is putting even more pressure on Bitcoin miners, causing hashrates to plummet.

The Bitcoin network’s hashrate, which can also be thought of as computing power, has tanked since peaking in October. When it drops sharply, it means miners are reducing their activities by voluntarily turning off machines.

“That’s exactly what we’re seeing today,” noted CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, who said the hashrate has dropped from 1,133 ZH/s to 690 EH/s in just two days.

Blockchain.com reports a higher figure for the seven-day moving average total hash rate of 950 exahashes per second; however, this is a lagging indicator.

Heavy storm hinders hashraat

The analyst said a severe ice storm is hitting the United States, where about a third of global Bitcoin mining activity takes place. The extreme cold has forced miners, especially in Texas, where major players such as MARA and Foundry Digital operate, to close mining facilities.

The storm is also causing disruptions to the power grid and spikes in electricity costs, leading to longer block times and an expected reduction in mining problems of approximately 4.5%.

The US Department of Energy has declared a state of emergency orders allowing grid operators in Texas to tap additional backup sources during the cold snap. The analyst warned that this could lead to more selling pressure if miners are forced to sell BTC to cover costs while they wait out the storm.

“This period of stress could even lead to some BTC selling if the storm continues, as miners may still need to cover fixed operating costs while they wait for conditions to normalize.”

Analysts have also noted that downward hashrates reflect price action, which will not improve until hash power recovers.

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Meanwhile network hashprice, which refers to the expected value of 1 TH/s of hash power per day, is also at a low of $0.039 per TH/s per day as miners struggle to make a profit.

Seeing hashrate drop by hundreds of exahash shows not only how much of it is in the southern and southeastern US, but also how much would need to be sold if AI were to replace these facilities. pic.twitter.com/Zy8tlZtibx

— Rob Warren (@robertwarren) January 26, 2026

No recovery for Bitcoin

As if there wasn’t enough crypto FUD already, tanking hashrates have prevented any Bitcoin recovery this week. BTC recovered $88,500 during Tuesday morning’s Asian trading session, but its value remains down 4.5% from the same time last week.

It remains within the lower bounds of a three-month sideways channel and found support again, but upside moves are currently very limited as bearish sentiment persists.