Bitcoin network slows as storm-driven curtailments hit miners

Network computing power now sits near 970 exahashes per second, its lowest level since September 2025, after the weather-driven disruption accelerated an already softening trend that began when bitcoin retreated from its $126,000 all-time high toward the $100,000 level late last year. The downturn marks the largest hashrate drawdown since October 2021, when the network was still adjusting after China’s mining ban reshaped global capacity.

The hashrate shock quickly translated into weaker miner economics because bitcoin’s issuance schedule keeps running even when a portion of the fleet goes dark. Daily bitcoin mining revenue fell from roughly $45 million on Jan. 22 to a yearly low of about $28 million within two days, reflecting fewer blocks being produced per unit of time and reduced fee and subsidy capture while rigs were offline. Revenue later rebounded modestly to around $34 million, but it remained below recent averages, underscoring how sensitive mining cash flows are to short-lived operational disruptions.

Production data shows the same compression in more mechanical terms. Output from the largest publicly traded miners dropped from 77 bitcoin per day to 28 bitcoin over the same period, highlighting the direct effect of curtailments at scale. Other miners also saw output fall, with production declining from 403 bitcoin to 209 bitcoin, dragging total network issuance lower during the disruption window.

On a 30-day rolling basis, the contraction stands out even against the post-halving baseline. Publicly listed miners recorded a 48 bitcoin decline in production, the steepest since May 2024, shortly after the last halving reset the subsidy math. Non-public miners posted an even larger decline of 215 bitcoin, the biggest fall since July 2024, suggesting the storm’s impact was not confined to a single operator cohort.

Stress is also visible in profitability gauges designed to capture how far the average miner is from break-even under prevailing conditions. CryptoQuant’s Miner Profit and Loss Sustainability Index slid to 21, its lowest reading since November 2024, a level associated with severe financial pressure across the network. That deterioration came despite recent downward difficulty adjustments, meaning the protocol has already started to ease the proof-of-work threshold as hashrate dropped.

Difficulty relief helps, but it arrives with a lag and does not instantly erase the combined hit from operational downtime and softer prices. If hashrate remains depressed, additional downward difficulty resets could follow in the coming weeks, offering incremental margin support. For now, the numbers describe one of the most challenging stretches for miners since the post-2021 rebalancing, with weather shocks, grid curtailments, and tighter economics converging at the same time.