Cryptocurrency miners are preparing for what could be a volatile weekend in the United States. So the miners have infrastructure problems as a severe winter storm causes soaring temperatures and power outages in most parts of the country.
Thus, the storm also hurt miners who were already suffering from falling crypto-asset prices. Therefore, they are now forecasting a worse start to 2023 compared to 2022.
“Please be prepared for some ups and downs this holiday season as we deal with the winter storm,” said Neil Galloway, Director of Mining Operations at Compass Mining.
As such, Riot Blockchain has said that it will be closing its Rockdale, Texas facility due to severe weather conditions. In a similar vein, Core Scientific, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week. It said it “will be involved in several power outages to help stabilize the power grid.”
“Bitcoin production is expected to decrease during this time,” the company said on Twitter.
Cryptocurrency miners
The US National Weather Service reported blizzard conditions and an “Arctic blast” from the Midwest to the Northeast. Thus, the foundation highlighted that temperatures will be 25 to 35 degrees below average for the region east of the Rocky Mountains up to the Appalachian Mountains,
In addition, he said the gusts of wind will produce a “serious cold snap” in the central and eastern parts of the United States throughout the rest of the year.
“At some points, wind gusts can approach or exceed 60 mph, causing damage and outages.” the agency said. “These winds over the existing snow cover will produce ground blizzards.”
PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks power outages across the United States, has already shown that hundreds of thousands of customers lost power on Friday afternoon. Thus, outages appeared to be worse in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina.
A utility company in Tennessee urged customers to reduce consumption, while some Twitter users reported higher spot prices.
“Miners stop, furnace is working again,” one user wrote, saying the temperature had dropped to -4 degrees Fahrenheit. “Yes, that’s a 5-minute hike to $1.12/kWh.”