mining

According to Cointelegraph, about two years away from Bitcoin's fifth halving, mining companies are facing a more challenging operating environment than the halving in 2024. At that time, the block reward will drop from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC, compounded by record-high network hash rates, rising energy costs, and a more cautious capital market, significantly compressing the industry's profit margins.On the balance sheet front, several leading mining companies have begun to actively deleverage. MARA Holdings sold over 15,000 Bitcoins in March to reduce leverage, Riot Platforms sold over 3,700 in the first quarter, Cango sold 2,000 to repay Bitcoin collateralized debt, and Bitdeer's Bitcoin holdings dropped to zero on February 20.Industry insiders generally hold a cautious outlook. Cango's communications head, Juliet Ye, stated, "The middle ground has almost disappeared; operators with scale and diversified layouts can cope, while those lacking these conditions will struggle in the next halving." GoMining CEO Mark Zalan pointed out, "Capital discipline is now more important than maximizing hash power," and new deployment projects must meet stricter return thresholds.In terms of business models, pure block rewards have become "an increasingly thin business," with strong operators moving towards power and data center businesses, exploring additional revenue through grid peak shaving and waste heat utilization. Cango is transitioning to a dual-line model focusing on both computing power and AI workloads, with Ye stating, "The truly important facilities in five years will be those that can do multiple things simultaneously."

According to CoinDesk, amid the ongoing geopolitical conflict between the U.S. and Iran for about six weeks, the Bitcoin market is clearly dividing into two camps: "passive buyers" represented by Strategy and spot ETFs continue to absorb chips, while whales, mining companies, and some sovereign holders are turning to reduce their holdings.The selling side is showing clear signs: whale addresses holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC have shifted from net buying to significant net selling, with the change in holdings this year moving from approximately +200,000 coins to -188,000 coins; publicly listed mining companies are also concentrating on reducing their holdings under high cost pressure, with weekly sales exceeding 19,000 BTC. Additionally, sovereign holders like Bhutan have reduced their Bitcoin reserves by about 70% since October 2024.Analysis indicates that despite market sentiment once being in an extreme panic zone, Bitcoin prices have remained fluctuating in the range of $65,000 to $73,000, showing that the price "bottom" mainly relies on support from a few institutional buyers. The current market buyer base continues to narrow, and future trends will depend on whether institutional capital inflows can continue and break through key resistance zones.

According to CoinDesk, after selling 70% of its Bitcoin holdings, there are reports that the Kingdom of Bhutan may have stopped or slowed down its Bitcoin mining activities, in stark contrast to the actions of other major institutions and sovereign nations that are increasing their holdings in cryptocurrencies and gold (El Salvador's current Bitcoin holdings have exceeded 7,618 coins).It is reported that due to economic pressure, its hydropower is currently used more for selling electricity to neighboring India rather than for Bitcoin mining. Additionally, the decline in Bitcoin prices, the increase in network difficulty, and halving pressure are all squeezing the profit margins for mining.As of now, the national sovereign wealth fund managing Bhutan's Bitcoin assets, Druk Holding and Investments, has not publicly commented on the status of fund transfers or its mining operations.

NASDAQ-listed company AVAX One Technology (AVX) announced the advancement of its AI infrastructure strategy. The company has signed a FEED plan for a 10MW AI/HPC microgrid data center, located in Alberta, Canada, leveraging the local low-cost natural gas power to create a high-cost-performance, scalable dedicated AI computing facility. The project is designed by BlueFlare and is one of the first AI computing centers in the area.At the same time, the company invested less than $500,000 to purchase 220 Bitmain S21 Pro mining machines, increasing Alberta's computing power from 150 PH/s to over 200 PH/s. This move serves as a transitional cash flow source during the construction period of the AI center, achieving a dual-track layout of "mining + AI computing power" to quickly monetize existing power capacity.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, the Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms is suspected of selling another 500 BTC, worth approximately 34.87 million dollars.In the past 5 days, it has deposited a total of 1500 BTC to NYDIG, worth approximately 102.3 million dollars.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, the crypto mining company MARA transferred 250 BTC (worth approximately 17.37 million USD) again 3 hours ago.Previously, MARA sold 15,133 BTC (1.1 billion USD) between March 4 and March 25.

According to PR Newswire, BTQ Technologies has released a research paper titled "Kardashev Scale Quantum Computing for Bitcoin Mining," which quantifies the physical costs of the entire process of using quantum computing for Bitcoin mining for the first time. The related research points out that the market has long confused two types of quantum threats: one is the attack on Bitcoin's elliptic curve digital signatures (real and urgent), and the other is quantum mining accelerated by Grover's algorithm (theoretically possible but with extremely high practical costs).The BTQ paper argues that to have a substantial impact on consensus, a quantum computing cluster with energy consumption far exceeding the current level of human civilization needs to be built. The study also proposes an open-source resource estimation model, covering key aspects such as reversible double SHA-256 computation, fault-tolerant quantum error correction, and large-scale quantum bit scheduling. The conclusion emphasizes that the more realistic risk facing Bitcoin comes from vulnerabilities in cryptographic signatures, rather than quantum mining capabilities.

According to China News Weekly, the People's Court of Honggang District in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province recently announced a first-instance judgment. Two men were sentenced for stealing electricity from high-voltage lines in an oil field for Bitcoin mining. The principal offender, Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan, while the accomplice, Zhao, was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan.According to the judgment, in September 2024, Zhang illegally connected to the high-voltage line of an oil field in Daqing and set up 24 Bitcoin mining machines in an abandoned pigsty he rented. In December of the same year, Zhao joined in knowing that Zhang was stealing electricity and purchased an additional 12 mining machines, bringing the total to 36 machines running. In August 2025, the two were arrested by the public security authorities.It was calculated that Zhang stole 565,375.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity, valued at 438,580.52 yuan; Zhao stole 468,060 kilowatt-hours, valued at 363,750.78 yuan. The court determined that both men committed theft, with Zhang as the principal offender and Zhao as the accomplice. The court also ordered Zhang to repay 438,580.52 yuan, and Zhao to bear joint repayment responsibility for 363,750.78 yuan. The mining machines and related equipment involved in the case will be handled by the public security authorities in accordance with the law.

The People's Court of Honggang District, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province recently announced a first-instance judgment. Two men were sentenced for stealing electricity from high-voltage lines in an oil field to mine Bitcoin. The main offender, Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan, while the accomplice, Zhao, was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan.According to the judgment, Zhang illegally connected to the high-voltage line of an oil field from a certain oil extraction plant in Daqing and set up 24 Bitcoin mining machines in an abandoned pigsty he rented. In December of the same year, Zhao joined in knowing that Zhang was stealing electricity and purchased an additional 12 mining machines, bringing the total to 36 machines running. In August 2025, the two were arrested by the public security authorities. It was calculated that Zhang stole 565,375.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity, valued at 438,580.52 yuan; Zhao stole 468,060 kilowatt-hours, valued at 363,750.78 yuan. The court found both men guilty of theft, with Zhang being the principal offender and Zhao the accomplice. The court also ordered Zhang to compensate 438,580.52 yuan, while Zhao was jointly liable for 363,750.78 yuan of that amount. The mining machines and related equipment involved in the case will be handled by the public security authorities in accordance with the law.

According to CloverPool data, the Bitcoin network has completed a new round of difficulty adjustment, with the difficulty value increased by 3.87% to 138.97 T.The current Bitcoin network hash rate is 986.02 EH/s, and the next difficulty adjustment is expected to take place in about 14 days.

Riot Platforms released its unaudited production and operational data for the first quarter of 2026. The quarter produced a total of 1,473 BTC, with an average daily output of 16.4 BTC, a year-on-year decrease of 4%. During the quarter, 3,778 BTC were sold, generating a net income of $289.5 million, with an average selling price of $76,626. As of the end of the quarter, it held 15,680 BTC, including 5,802 restricted bitcoins, a year-on-year decrease of 18%.In terms of computing power, the total deployed computing power reached 42.5 EH/s, a year-on-year increase of 26%; the average operational computing power was 36.4 EH/s, a year-on-year increase of 23%. The equipment energy efficiency was 20.2 J/TH, optimized by 4% year-on-year. The total electricity credits reached $21 million, a year-on-year increase of 171%, of which demand response credits amounted to $7.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 278%. The overall electricity cost decreased to 3.0 cents/kWh, a year-on-year decrease of 21%.

According to Blockspace, one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies in the world, MARA (NASDAQ: MARA), has laid off about 15% of its staff, affecting full-time employees in multiple departments as well as some contractors. CEO Fred Thiel stated in an internal memo that this layoff is not purely a financial decision, but part of the company's strategic transformation from a pure Bitcoin mining company to an energy and digital infrastructure company.Previously, MARA completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Exaion, a subsidiary of the French national energy company EDF, in February this year, officially entering the AI and high-performance computing (HPC) fields, and reached an agreement with data center developer Starwood to repurpose about 1 GW of mining infrastructure for AI workloads.In addition, MARA recently sold over 15,133 BTC (approximately $1.1 billion) to repay $1 billion in convertible bonds, with a net loss of $1.3 billion for the full year of 2025 and an adjusted EBITDA of -$330.8 million. Affected employees will receive one month of paid leave, 13 weeks of severance pay, and full compensation for unused vacation.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms has transferred another 500 BTC, worth $33.26 million, suspected to be for sale.

According to Cointelegraph, Riot Platforms' wallet transferred about 500 bitcoins on Wednesday, which may belong to the company's selling activities. As of now, the company has not publicly commented on this matter. Analysts believe this move may further exacerbate the selling wave of publicly listed bitcoin mining companies.Last week, another bitcoin mining company, MARA Holdings, disclosed the sale of approximately $1.1 billion in bitcoin to repurchase convertible bonds at a discount. Recently, several publicly listed bitcoin mining companies have cumulatively sold over 15,000 bitcoins to balance operational and investment needs. However, the trend of bitcoin mining companies selling off may not be a universal phenomenon, as bitcoin treasury companies, including Metaplanet, are still actively increasing their holdings.

According to the official page, the total issuance of GUSD on the Gate platform has exceeded 159 million, with an annualized issuance rate currently reported at 3.3%. Meanwhile, the Gate Launchpool EDGEX project is ongoing: the annualized yield for the GUSD pool is currently reported at 18.34%, the annualized yield for the BTC pool is currently reported at 8.69%, and the annualized yield for the ETH pool is currently reported at 11.82%.GUSD is a high-yield asset supported by the income from the Gate ecosystem, government bonds RWA, and stablecoins. The product supports trading and collateral, allowing users to earn daily returns, aiming to provide users with relatively stable returns. In addition, the current reference annualized yields for mainstream cryptocurrencies are: BTC 2.56%, ETH 4.30%, SOL 8.50%, and USDT 3.84%.

According to Cryptopolitan, the Russian government has submitted a bill to the State Duma to hold illegal cryptocurrency mining activities criminally liable, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to 2.5 million rubles (approximately $25,000). Currently, about 50,000 individuals and entities in Russia are engaged in mining activities, but fewer than 1,500 have completed registration.Meanwhile, Russia has extended the mining ban to the Republic of Buryatia and the Transbaikal Territory, lasting five years until March 15, 2031. The mining ban currently covers 13 regions, including Irkutsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and several republics in the North Caucasus. The Energy Minister of Moscow Oblast has proposed banning mining in Moscow and the region to alleviate the load on the power grid. Russia is one of the top three destinations for Bitcoin mining globally, but the government is prioritizing the use of computing power for artificial intelligence applications.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, the Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms is suspected of selling 500 BTC, worth approximately $34,130,000.