Bitcoin miners are fighting to adapt to Trump’s global tariffs, which are ready to increase ASIC miners, electrical equipment, network infrastructure and more.
“It’s a complete struggle,” Luxor Coob Ethan Vera said last week Minera sheath News roundup. “From the Asic Commerce Front and the Sliding, the miners have not been very proactive here. They have not necessarily rub the orders and have taken them to the US.
This article first appeared in Blockspace Media, the leading publication of the Bitcoin industry dedicated to covering Bitcoin technology, markets, mining and orderly. Get blockspace items directly on your entrance tray by clicking here.
ASIC prices have labeled slightly during the last year, according to the ASIC price index data of the hashrate index. A new generation model, such as the S21, currently has miners of approximately $ 3,400.
Working overtime to carry out Asic orders before these rates that had to enter into force on April 9, the main companies rented flights 2-4 times the usual rate, anywhere from $ 2-3.5 million per flight according to the estimates provided to Blockspace of Synteq Digital Ceo Taras Kulyk and Luxor’s Vera.
But the initial panic was in response to the tariff policy now obsolete. Before the 90 -day pause on Wednesday in all rates, except Chinese tariffs, the Trump administration had proposed general tariffs in more than 180 countries, including 24% in Malaysia, 36% in Thailand and 32% in Indonesia, three countries that predominantly manufacture the Asic mining computers that are the heartbeat of the mining business.
During the 90 -day grace period, the Trump administration has reduced reciprocal tariffs to a 10% flat rate for all affected countries, except China. Then the fight seems to have been something in vain. Or maybe not, the administration’s commercial policies are so mercurial, so no one supposes if the 10% rate will remain once the grace period ends.
Even 10%, tariffs are material enough to hinder efforts to implement the hashrate in the US, the dominant market currently with an estimated 35-40% participation in Bitcoin’s hash. As it is, it is likely that the Bitcoin hashrate growth of the hashrate significantly versus previous expectations.
Blockspace estimates that US Bitcoin miners. UU. They imported more than $ 2.3 billion in ASIC miners last year and more than $ 860 million in Q1, starting with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, the main manufacturers of such machines.
The originally proposed reciprocal rates
Bitmain and Microbt, which collectively are aimed at 90%of the Asic miners market, transferred their manufacturing capacity ASIC out of China to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia in response to Trump China’s tariffs in their first mandate. Microbt opened an assembly plant in the United States in 2023, and Kulyk said Bitmain opened its first assembly line in the United States in January. Even so, these plants represent a fraction of the total production of the manufacturer.
Kulyk said “American production will have a material discount” compared to imported hardware. But they will still suffer tariffs on raw material such as aluminum, electronic components for control tables and the like. Therefore, the ASIC produced in the United States will continue to be more expensive than before the tariffs are introduced, especially if the proposed 125% tariff on Chinese products is maintained.
Vera said that the Chinese electrical components are scheduled for a rate of 50% or more (and could even be subject to up to 125% depending on an updated rate of the Trump administration). This will affect everything from the prices of ASIC miners to the electrical infrastructure in the mines themselves.
As tariffs increase the cost of imported ASIC miners and other mining equipment, so everything else is the same, any existing installation in the US must become more valuable. Even so, US miners who seek to expand could find the acquisitions an easier route than the import of equipment. Consequently, Kulyk expects the rates to provide fusion and acquisition agreements, explaining that “suddenly these miners who have older equipment that seem zombies really seem interesting acquisition opportunities.”
“A great blow” for the American mining sector of Bitcoins
Kulyk said that “nobody is buying” in the secondary market while waiting to see where the chips fall.
In the medium term, tariffs are indisputably a “great blow” for the US Bitcoin mining sector. UU.
“If you are paying more for a machine than your competitor in Canada or Russia, it will be difficult to compete with international miners.”
“Canada, from an economic perspective, will actually be a much more interesting place to do business. Corporate taxes are reduced.
Mark Carney, the favorite of the Liberal Party in the Canada elections, supports the reinforcement of the data center and the energy industries of Canada. But the Canadian provinces such as Ontario and Quebec have moratoriums in new energy applications for Bitcoin miners, so there are doubts about Canada’s appeal towards miners as an alternative to the United States
Kulyk believes that northern Europe could also be explored for the expansion of hashrate, while Vera said the miners could also find some gigawatts of opportunities in South America and parts of Africa.
But the growth will be limited if the miners cannot take advantage of the US. Vera believes that the impact of tariffs on Bitcoin mining will be a scale similar to China’s mining prohibition, and that Hashrate will move away from the United States to other countries. Tariffs could also materially reduce the cost of ASIC in other markets, since international miners will not compete with larger buyers, US miners, due to the allocation.
“In terms of the geopolitical impact scale, it is probably relevant to think that this is on par with the ban on China,” Vera said. “The benefits will be international miners, which will probably access machines at a much cheaper cost now because they are not competing with such demand from the United States”
“It could be argued that Network Hashrate will continue its increase … but the United States has been a large part of its growth as an energy superpower … There is not so much energy for everyone,” Vera concluded.
Update April 10, 22:04 UTC: Corrects Trump’s tariff policy
