Foundry USA Mining Operations Plummet 60% Following Friday as Lethal Winter Storm Strikes: Sources
As winter storm Fern tears through the United States, approximately 1 million people have been left in the dark without access to electricity.
FoundryUSA, which operates as a digital asset advisory firm managing the planet's most substantial Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool, has reduced its hashrate by approximately 60% following Friday as a result of the harsh winter storm affecting extensive portions 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.
Despite the reduction, FoundryUSA continues to maintain approximately 198 (EH/s) of hashing power, which represents roughly 23% of the worldwide mining pool hashrate, according to information provided by Hashrate Index.
The hashrate of the Bitcoin network represents the cumulative computing power that Bitcoin mining operators allocate to maintain the security of the proof-of-work protocol.
The reduction in operations has impacted additional mining pools that serve clients across the US, including Luxor, as reported by TheMinerMag on Saturday, while winter storm Fern continues its path across the US and compels miners to modify their energy consumption to alleviate pressure from grid infrastructure.
Bitcoin miners can balance the energy grid in times of emergency
Bitcoin miners function as a controllable load resource for public electrical grid infrastructure, modifying their energy requirements to stabilize the grid during periods of peak demand and low consumer usage.
Excessive energy within an electrical grid system has the potential to cause damage to energy infrastructure during periods of low demand, and it must be safely discharged to prevent harm to grid components and individuals.
Bitcoin miners have the capability to activate their mining machines when demand is insufficient, drawing otherwise hazardous levels of power away from the grid. On the other hand, they can deactivate their machines during periods of peak demand to enable energy to reach consumers.
The ongoing winter storm in the US consists of a combination of snow, ice and freezing rain across the Southeastern US, the Northeast, and portions of the Midwest, based on radar forecasts from The Weather Channel.
The storm is anticipated to span approximately 1,800 miles, with extensive power outages impacting more than 1 million residents, The Weather Channel reported.