By On 21st August 2019, a prolonged rainstorm in China’s Sichuan province has caused land- and mudslides. The storm forced some local hydropower plants and bitcoin miners to halt operations.
According to local government social media posts, the heavy rain has been drenching Sichuan’s mountainous Aba prefecture since Monday. The landslides have affected 17 counties in the area. Among those affected, Wenchuan County appears to be affected the most.
Damages Caused by The Heavy Rain
The mudflows have disrupted local power supply and communications infrastructure. They have also resulted in at least seven deaths, according to a Daily China report.
One mining farm operator shared with Coindesk that some mining facilities in Wenchuan have been destroyed. Bitcoin mining machines are now covered in mud. He added that the rainstorm has led to excessive levels of water in reservoirs used by the local hydropower plants. This has forced many stations in Aba to stop generating electricity and has created a power shortage that may affect mining farms in the short term.
Sichuan Minjiang, a hydro-energy company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, said in a statement that three of its power plants in the area have already stopped operations. Another of their plants is flooded with water.
Bitcoin miners are widely scattered hence making it unclear how many in total may have been affected. Wenchuan County is one small part of the prefecture with a size of about 2,000 square miles.
Bitcoin’s Hashing Power
Data from mining pool btc.com shows bitcoin’s 24-hour average hash rate has dropped from around 78 exahash per second on Monday to about 73 exahash on Wednesday. Its three-day and seven-day averages have both remained steady around 74 exahash since Monday.
The cheap hydroelectricity resulted from the summer rainy season in Sichuan has been attracting bitcoin miners. This has pushed bitcoin’s total hashing power to a new high, although excessive rainfall now emerges as an operational risk.
It remains unclear at the moment when the situation and power supply will return to a reasonable level. The local weather forecast indicates that the rainfall is likely to continue in Wenchuan in the coming days.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty
This is a measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards. Bitcoin mining difficulty is currently at about 10 trillion. The estimated percentage increase at the next adjustment cycle has dropped slightly from about three percent on Tuesday to about 1.5 percent.
Bitcoin mining difficulty is designed to adjust every 2016 blocks, which is approximately 14 days. This adjustment is based on the participating mining power during each cycle. It remains to be seen how it will change at the next period, which is due in about 11 days.
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