Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Jumps 15% After US Storms Halved Hashrate
Bitcoin mining difficulty rose about 15% to 144.4 trillion on Feb 20 after recovering from an earlier ~11% drop caused by severe US winter storms that halved US hashrate. The storm forced many facilities to power down or curtail operations, reducing US mining hashrate from nearly 400 EH/s to about 198 EH/s. Bitcoin’s protocol adjusts difficulty every 2,016 blocks (~two weeks) to keep block times near ten minutes; the initial hashrate fall produced a downward adjustment and the subsequent return of capacity produced the 15% rebound. Higher difficulty strengthens network security but raises miners’ costs per block and squeezes margins, particularly in high-energy-cost environments. Some US miners monetized outages through demand-response and flexible power contracts, selling power back to grids and earning outsized short-term revenue—LM Funding America reported demand-response income that exceeded a quarter of typical quarterly revenue in one weekend. The episode highlights the United States’ dominant role in global mining (over one-third of global hashrate per Cambridge data), the structural risk from geographic concentration, and miners’ growing role as flexible grid participants. Key metrics: difficulty 144.4T, prior ~11% decline, hashrate fell from ~400 EH/s to ~198 EH/s, adjustment interval 2,016 blocks. Primary keywords: Bitcoin mining difficulty, hashrate, mining margins, US miners, demand response.
Neutral
The news is neutral for BTC price overall. The 15% rise in difficulty signals stronger network security, which is structurally positive, but it also increases miner costs and compresses margins—an incremental headwind for selling pressure if miners need to liquidate holdings to cover higher operating costs. Short-term market impact is likely muted: difficulty adjustments themselves do not directly change demand for BTC, and miners partially offset outages via demand-response revenue, showing operational resilience. The halving of US hashrate during storms was a temporary disruption; the subsequent rapid recovery and miners’ ability to monetize grid services reduce the risk of prolonged production shock. Traders should watch miner behavior (coin sales), regional power-cost dynamics, and on-chain metrics (hashrate and difficulty) for potential selling pressure. In the medium-to-long term, higher difficulty marginally raises break-even prices for marginal miners, which could slow new selling if BTC price remains elevated, and strengthens network security—a bullish structural point. Overall, expect limited immediate price movement (neutral), with possible short-term volatility around miner revenue and sell-offs if margins tighten.