Wednesday, 13 November 2024
by BD Banks
This morning MARA, the largest publicly-traded Bitcoin mining company, shared that it will be rolling out three new data centers in the U.S.
Would it have made such an announcement had Harris won the election? Probably. (It’s not like they whisked up these data centers overnight.)
But would they have made the announcement with such gusto, highlighting the fact that the bitcoin the company mines will be “Made In USA”? Probably not.
American compute power is accelerating. Today, we’re announcing:
-Three new data centers.
-Owned and operated in Ohio.
-372 megawatts of capacity.#Bitcoin – Made in USA. pic.twitter.com/ltDbhKrCHJ— MARA (@MARAHoldings) November 11, 2024
The “Made In USA” line is likely a nod to President-elect Donald Trump, who’s said he wants all future bitcoin mined in the United States.
Since Trump won the election, the stocks for bitcoin mining companies across the board have skyrocketed, with CleanSpark (CLSK) even being halted due to such breakneck upward price action, indicating that not only miners but also investors believe that Bitcoin mining is welcome in the U.S. and that the industry will thrive as a result.
And it isn’t only Bitcoin miners who feel that Bitcoin companies are safe to operate in the U.S. Alex Leishman, CEO and CTO of Bitcoin exchange River, also believes that the Trump administration will be kind to Bitcoin businesses (and Bitcoin holders).
Major risks to Bitcoin have been removed or made substantially less likely this year:
– Federal Ban / Chokepoint (with Trump this is much less likely)
– Gox coins dumping (coins have already been distributed)
– Self custody ban (less likely with Trump)— Alexander Leishman 🇺🇸 (@Leishman) November 11, 2024
In this tweet, Leishman seemingly refers to the promise Trump made in his keynote speech at Bitcoin 2024 to protect the right to self-custody and to stop the Federal bureaucracy from unlawfully cracking down on the Bitcoin and crypto industry.
Will Trump follow through on all of his promises? Hard to tell.
It seems likely that he will, though, as money talks and the Bitcoin/crypto lobby raised millions for Trump’s campaign.
For now, though, optimism abounds, which is refreshing after four years of the Biden administration, which made Bitcoin and crypto companies feel uneasy about their status in the U.S.