The severe winter storm in North America shut down Binance’s cloud mining products between Dec. 24-26, according to an official announcement on Dec. 28. As a result of the power outage, the company announced that users’ subscriptions to cloud mining products were extended for three days.
Binance has noted that further outages as a result of the weather conditions will extend the duration of cloud mining subscriptions.
The exchange’s cloud mining service, launched nearly a month ago, allows users without mining equipment to earn mining rewards from Binance Pool. Subscriptions are required to buy hashrates and Bitcoin mining on Binance’s cloud.
During the days leading up to Christmas, a “bomb cyclone” unleashed extreme temperatures across the United States, leaving millions without electricity and claiming dozens of lives in the country.
Related: Microsoft bans cryptocurrency mining on cloud services
Weather conditions in Texas drove Bitcoin miners to voluntarily curtail operations to give power back to the grid, allowing residents to keep their homes warm. Disruptions have impacted Bitcoin’s hash rate, which typically hovers around 225-300 Exahashes per second (EH/s) in a typical day, hitting 170.60 EH/s on Dec. 25, Cointelegraph reported.
Bitcoin transactions worldwide have been slowed by 30% as a result of the Texan miners’ decision. Texas is among the top states for Bitcoin mining in the U.S., along with New York, Kentucky and Georgia. All states were affected by the bomb cyclone in the past days.
Since FTX’s collapse in November 2022, Binance has been surrounded by fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), resulting in billions of dollars in withdrawals. While fighting rumours, the crypto exchange has continued to work on diversifying its business model. Last month, the company also announced that its venture capital arm, Binance Labs, has invested in Belgian hardware wallet company Ngrave and will lead its Series A funding round.
