The wrong start to the US road to Bitcoin
Mining companies face growing competition for limited US energy resources. This is prevalent mainly by AI companies with venture capital. New forecasts from the U.S. Department of Energy show that AI can be consumed by 2028. Energy equivalent to 22% of US households. “The miners have always been a poor buyer. They’re like vultures on the power grid,” says Bendixen. “AI companies are on the upside. They are happy to pay more.”
Tariff hikes alone aren’t enough to drive Bitcoin miners out of the US. Compared to energy prices, for example, the cost of import collection of hardware has a small impact on the feasibility of mining operations, Thiel argues. However, they are important as factors that degrade an already unfavourable environment.
“Usually, this type of shock will lead to integration,” says Thiemo Fetzer, professor of economics at Warwick University, on tariffs. “Apriori would expect small miners to ull as equipment costs rise and supply chain uncertainty increases.”
Bitcoin mining companies operating in the US – including Riot Platform, Bit Farm, Mara, coreweave, Core Scientific, Hut 8, Iris energyand others – already scrambled to diversify from the mining market, redesigning facilities to accommodate AI training and high-performance computing. Only big costumes like this CleanSparkwe continue to commit to Bitcoin mining only.
“Most of the miners throw towels,” says Bendixen. “I think a lot of people were down this route before the tariffs, but the tariffs probably confirmed the validity of that strategy.”
Some of them among them Marahas chosen to expand its mining operations to countries outside the US and deny tariff risks. “Why do you want to have a lot of international business? It eliminates the risk of a single-bullet regime,” says Thiel. “I believe you have to have options as a Bitcoin Miner.”
Meanwhile, Bitmain and Microbt are Increase manufacturing capacity in the USwhich could potentially erode some of the value proposition – candidate disclaimer – push buyers into businesses like power supplies. “We are actively investing in the US, including manufacturing,” GAO says.
For now, Bitcoin mining companies are in a retention pattern. Until Trump’s 90-day suspension on new tariffs ends in July, the scope of their financial impact remains uncertain, with businesses delaying their hardware sourcing decisions accordingly. “I think people see where things get under the tariffs,” says Khemani.
On their faces, Trump’s tariffs are in conflict with his stated ambitions for the US Bitcoin mining, even as his own son Focus on sectors. “The tariffs are clearly destructive,” Bendixen argues.
Lending support to Bitcoin mining companies facing worsening US economics in order to drive business towards US Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturers requires Trump to pull other levers to balance the impact of tariffs. According to analysts, one option is to prioritize build-outs of new energy generation capabilities. In theory, it creates abundance that reduces the main input costs of Bitcoin mining.
The Trump administration is claiming rafts Recent Executive order Combined to reduce the cost of energy in the US. But so far, the stripping of Bitcoin mining between terrestrial photographs – US businesses shows Trump’s message about the outlook for Bitcoin across the US is “basically just a word,” Bendixen argues. “It just softens the feelings of the nationalists.”