How Chinese bitcoin manufacturers are circumventing U.S. tariffs
Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT build over 90% of global mining rigs – essentially computers dedicated to number-crunching that produces bitcoin. Establishing U.S. bases could shield them from tariffs but risks stoking security concerns the U.S. has with China in areas as varied as chip making and energy security.
'The U.S.-China trade war is triggering structural, not superficial, changes in bitcoin's supply chains,' said Guang Yang, chief technology officer at crypto tech provider Conflux Network. Moreover, for U.S. firms, 'this goes beyond tariffs. It's a strategic pivot toward 'politically acceptable' hardware sources,' Yang said.
Bitmain, the biggest of the three by sales, started U.S. production of mining rigs in December in a 'strategic move' following Trump's presidential electoral win a month earlier.
Canaan started trial production in the U.S. with the aim of avoiding tariffs after Trump on April 2 announced his so-called Liberation Day levies, senior executive Leo Wang told Reuters. The initiative is exploratory as the volatile tariff situation precludes heavy investment, he said.
Third-ranked MicroBT in a statement said it is 'actively implementing a localisation strategy in the U.S.' to 'avoid the impact of tariffs'.
The trio dominate a sector analysts estimated to be worth $12 billion by 2028. It is the upstream of a business chain that extends through the energy-intensive process of mining bitcoin, the supporting IT infrastructure and the trading platforms.
Source: Reuters
Image Credit: Stock Image
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