U.S. storm slows bitcoin mining, reviving bullish Hash Ribbon signal
A weekend storm in the U.S. disrupted bitcoin (BTC $89,322.67) mining, driving up costs and forcing miners to scale back computing power. The slowdown has brought renewed attention to the Hash Ribbon indicator, a historically bullish on-chain signal that often signals long-term buying opportunities during periods of miner capitulation.
The Hash Ribbon tracks the 30-day and 60-day moving averages of bitcoin’s hashrate on Glassnode. Capitulation occurs when the short-term average falls below the long-term average (light red), while recovery is flagged once the 30-day average rises above the 60-day (dark red). Historically, when this recovery coincides with a shift in price momentum from negative to positive (dark red to white), it has aligned with major BTC rallies.
The storm caused the network hashrate to drop roughly 20%, from about 1.2 zettahash per second (ZH/s) to roughly 950 exahashes per second (EH/s). This is expected to trigger a difficulty adjustment of around 17%—the largest since July 2021, when China banned bitcoin mining.
The Hash Ribbon last signaled capitulation in late November, when bitcoin bottomed near $80,000. BTC now trades near $88,000. Similar patterns have preceded notable rallies: in mid-2024, bitcoin bottomed near $49,000 before climbing to $100,000 by January 2025, while during the 2022 FTX collapse, BTC fell to roughly $15,000 before rebounding to about $22,000 once the metric normalized.
Traders are now watching to see whether history repeats. If hashrate and the Hash Ribbon recover, bitcoin could enter a renewed growth phase, presenting a potential long-term buying opportunity.
