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Gustav: Bitcoin hashrate recently collapsed. Down 25% in a few days. Is Bitcoin dead/dying? The culprit is the cold weather in the United States.

Many areas, especially in Texas, have coupled Bitcoin mining to power infrastructure. When there is increased demand for electricity, for example during bad weather, Bitcoin miners shut down to support more grid capacity.

So is Bitcoin now less secure? Does the network become unstable under this variability? Net effect is zero. Difficulty adjusts on a two week basis for any loss or gain in mining hashrate. A win-win situation.

Emergent behavior in complex systems is fascinating.

#bitcoin #coldsnap #hashrate #bitcoinmining

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