Bitcoin Hashrate Reaches New High, But Will Costs and Tariffs Stop It?

The Bitcoin mining industry is becoming increasingly competitive as the network hashrate reaches an all-time high (ATH). At the end of March 2025, the Bitcoin hashrate reached 850 million TH/s.

However, alongside this impressive growth, the industry faces rising production costs and new tariff barriers, particularly in the United States. These factors are putting significant pressure on mining companies and could change the future of the sector.

Hashrate has increased sharply, mining costs have increased

Bitcoin's hashrate reflects the total computing power that miners use to secure the network and verify transactions. It is expressed in terahashes per second (TH/s), which is the number of hash calculations performed by the network every second.

According to Blockchain.com, Bitcoin's hashrate surpassed 850 million TH/s in March. The increase illustrates the increasing number of miners joining the network and growing confidence in Bitcoin's value and security.

Bitcoin Hashrate. Source: Blockchain.com

“With each increase in network strength, Bitcoin becomes harder to attack, harder to ignore, and more reasonably commands a higher valuation. It’s not just code. It’s economic gravity. Bitcoin has become the most secure monetary network humanity has ever seen. And it’s only getting stronger,” said Thomas Jiggers, CFO and COO of Relai.

Despite this growth in hashrate, mining profitability has not increased accordingly. According to a report from Macromicro, the cost of mining one Bitcoin has doubled since the beginning of 2024, reaching $87,000. The main factors contributing to this increase include rising electricity prices and the high operating costs of specialized mining hardware (ASICs).

Due to fluctuating Bitcoin prices, many mining companies risk operating at a loss unless they optimize their efficiency. This problem is especially acute for smaller miners who do not have the advantages of scale or access to cheaper electricity that larger companies have.

Tariff issues and dependence on Chinese equipment

Another major obstacle for Bitcoin miners is trade restrictions, especially in the U.S. According to CoinMetrics, ASIC miners made by the Chinese company Bitmain account for approximately 59%–76% of the total Bitcoin hashrate.

Estimated ASIC Miner Dominance. Source: CoinMetrics.

Bitmain has long been a leading player in the mining hardware market, with popular models like the Antminer S19 and S21 known for their high efficiency. However, in early 2025, some US mining companies experienced delays in receiving shipments from Bitmain due to increased customs controls and new tariffs on Chinese imports.

“Because Bitmain accounts for a significant share of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate, reliance on a single manufacturer, even with distributed supply chains, is a potential risk. Since Bitmain is primarily based in China, its dominance highlights how geopolitical dependencies can impact the stability of mining operations,” CoinMetrics reports.

These tariffs are not a new issue. Since 2018, the US has imposed tariffs of up to 27.6% on imported mining equipment from China, according to SCMP.

However, recent measures point to increased regulatory scrutiny and trade pressure, further raising the cost of importing mining equipment. This increases operating costs for miners in the U.S. and disrupts supply chains, limiting their ability to expand as the global hash rate grows.

Recently, Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing infrastructure company Hut 8 Corp. partnered with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to create American Bitcoin Corp.

The company aims to become the largest and most efficient pure Bitcoin mining operation in the world while simultaneously building a significant strategic Bitcoin reserve. The move highlights growing interest from U.S. institutional investors in the competitive mining space.

Source: cryptonews.net