The US customs and border protection has started to take Bitcoin mining devices at several entry points, which disturbs the Bitcoin mining area.
Customs agents currently have over 2,000 units of mining machines, which are mainly produced by Chinese Tech Gigy Bitmain. American mining companies now have difficulty running under the seizures. Some of them have storage costs of up to 500,000 US dollars.
The crypto sector that is trapped in the US China trade war
The procedure is connected with SOPGHO, a semiconductor manufacturer connected to Bitmain. After the alleged discovery of one of Sopgho’s processors in a Huawei mobile part, the operation was quickly added to a forbidden US trade list.
The Bitcoin mining industry has shaken this development, which mainly depends on Chinese machines. According to Industry Insiders, customs officials examine the goods that come in the US floor to ensure that they do not contain any components of companies on black list.
Krypto mountain people in the United States experience delays that receive deliveries of new devices as a Chinese juggernach, which delivers most of their machinery
– Bloomberg Crypto (@Crypto) February 13, 2025
Mining companies under increasing financial burden
Timing could not be worse for the mining activities based in the USA. American companies have positioned themselves as the main actors in the Bitcoin network because the global crypto mining scene still adapts to China’s ceiling ban from cryptocurrency activities in 2021.
These unexpected delays and additional expenses now endanger your competitive advantage. Several miners collect significant storage fees that reduce their already thin profit margins and claim that they waited weeks or even months so that their devices exceed customs.
BTCUSD trading at $96,937 on the daily chart: TradingView.com
“Made-in-USA” Trump Vision demands reality check
The state of affairs now clearly contradicts the campaign promise of US President Donald Trump to encourage American Bitcoin. Although his government pushed for Bitcoin operations “manufactured in the USA”, American mining companies still mainly rely on Chinese technologies.
In view of the supremacy of Bitmain in the production of specialized mining tools, it is not easy to discover substitute fabrics. The mix of these customs delays and additional taxes on Chinese goods has produced the ideal storm of the industry.
Security problems vs. economic effects
Apart from the short -term loss of money, these seizures have larger effects. Since the United States now makes a significant part of global Bitcoin mining activity, shifts in the supply of devices could endanger the general security and the condition of the network.
Mining companies argue that government regulations could accidentally affect America’s reputation on the global cryptocurrency market. The situation has led to a challenging balancing law between national security goals and the maintenance of the competitiveness of the United States in the rapidly developing digital currency sector.
If the current situation remains, the industrial analysts predict that the US mining capacity would decrease by 15 to 20% by the end of the year, which may shift the balance of power in global Bitcoin mining.
Selected picture of Gemini Imageen, Diagram from Tradingview