Deadly Winter Storm in US Impacts FoundryUSA and Other Mining Pools

The hashrate of FoundryUSA, a digital asset advisory firm with the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool, has curtailed its hashrate by about 60% since Friday in response to the severe winter storm impacting large swaths of the United States.

“Bitcoin hashrate on FoundryUSA alone is down by nearly 200 exahashes per second (EH/s), or 60%, since Friday amid continued curtailment. Temporary block production has slowed down to 12 minutes,” according to TheMinerMag. 

FoundryUSA still commands about 198 (EH/s) of hashing power, accounting for about 23% of the global mining pool hashrate, data from Hashrate Index shows. 

The Bitcoin network’s hashrate is the total amount of computing power deployed by Bitcoin mining operators to secure the proof-of-work protocol.

The curtailment has affected other mining pools serving users in the US, including Luxor, TheMinerMag reported on Saturday, as winter storm Fern sweeps through the US and forces miners to adjust their energy usage to remove stress from grid infrastructure. 

Related: Tennessee city clears path for crypto mining, data centers with new zoning rules

Bitcoin miners can balance the energy grid in times of emergency

Bitcoin miners act as a controllable load resource for public electrical grid infrastructure, adjusting their energy needs to balance the grid during times of peak demand and low consumer usage.

Too much energy within an electrical grid system can damage energy infrastructure during times of low demand, and must be safely dumped to prevent harm to grid components and individuals.

Bitcoin miners can power their mining machines on when demand is too low, siphoning otherwise dangerous levels of power away from the grid. Conversely, they can turn their machines off during times of peak demand to allow energy to flow to consumers.

The current winter storm in the US features a mix of snow, ice and freezing rain throughout the Southeastern US, the Northeast, and parts of the Midwest, according to radar forecasts from The Weather Channel.

The storm is projected to extend about 1,800 miles, with widespread power outages affecting more than 1 million residents, The Weather Channel reported. 

Magazine: AI may already use more power than Bitcoin — and it threatens Bitcoin mining