How Bitcoin Miners Are Adapting to Tariff Threat: Blockspace

How Bitcoin Miners Are Adapting to Tariff Threats: Blockspace

Through April 9, miners have spent more than $3 million on charter flights to avoid the impact of Trump's import tariffs, which some miners have compared to China's 2021 mining ban.

Colin Harper, Blockspace Media | Edited by Benjamin Schiller Updated April 10, 2025, 10:04 PM Published April 10, 2025, 9:38 PM

Key facts:

• Bitcoin miners are rushing to adapt to new tariffs that could increase the costs of the necessary mining equipment.
• The Trump administration's proposed tariffs have sparked panic, but a 90-day pause has temporarily calmed concerns.
• The introduction of tariffs is expected to slow the growth of Bitcoin mining in the US, which could lead to hash rate dominance shifting to other countries.
• “In terms of the scale of geopolitical impact, this could be comparable to the mining ban in China in 2021,” said Luxor COO Ethan Vera.

Bitcoin miners are having a hard time adjusting to Trump's global tariffs, which could lead to higher prices for ASIC miners, electrical equipment, network infrastructure and more.

By subscribing, you will receive notifications about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy .

“It’s a complete mess,” Luxor COO Ethan Vera said in a recent Mining Pod news roundup. “In terms of ASIC trading and brokerage, miners are not very active. They’re not rushing to place orders in advance and get them to the U.S. … they’re here for less than a week to make sure all the shipments from Southeast Asia are picked up and delivered.”

This article was originally published on Blockspace Media, the leading Bitcoin publication covering Bitcoin technology, markets, mining, and ordinals. Get Blockspace articles delivered straight to your inbox by clicking here.

ASIC prices have fallen slightly over the past year, according to the ASIC Hashrate Index. The newest model, like the S21, currently costs miners around $3,400.

Working in emergency mode to fulfill ASIC orders before the tariffs were set to go into effect on April 9, leading companies booked charter flights at prices two to four times higher than normal, ranging from $2 million to $3.5 million per flight, according to estimates provided to Blockspace by Synteq Digital CEO Taras Kulik and Luxor's Vera.

But the initial panic was fueled by an outdated tariff policy. Before Wednesday’s 90-day pause on all tariffs except those from China, the Trump administration had proposed sweeping tariffs on more than 180 countries, including 24% on Malaysia, 36% on Thailand and 32% on Indonesia — the three countries that primarily produce the ASIC miners that are the backbone of the cryptocurrency mining business.

During the 90-day grace period, the Trump administration cut reciprocal tariffs to a flat 10% rate for all affected countries except China. So it seems like all the fuss was for naught. Or maybe not—the administration’s trade policies have been so fickle that it’s anyone’s guess whether the 10% rate will stick around after the grace period ends.

Even at 10%, the tariffs are significant enough to make it difficult to deploy hashrate in the US, which is currently

Источник