US bitcoin miners are preparing for dark Q1 gains in the face of tariffs

• Most big US public Bitcoin miners expect losses in the first quarter despite the high BTC prices.
• US tariffs on imported mining rigs increased the costs and created strategic uncertainties for miners.
• The Bitcoin-Halving event in April has further pressure by reducing the block rewards by 50 %.

Despite the head of office with the promise to advance the US bitcoin mining industry, President Donald Trump's return to the White House has not brought immediate prosperity to the sector.

While the American crypto miners are preparing to publish their first quarterly profits since the change of government, analysts expect a challenging phase that is characterized by losses, shrinking margins and operational difficulties, even against the background that Bitcoin has reached record heights at the beginning of the year.

The paradox of pain: losses despite high Bitcoin prices

The prevailing expectation is a financial burden.

According to the analyst estimates, which were compiled by Bloomberg, it is predicted that seven of the eight largest Bitcoin miners listed on the stock exchange will report a net loss in the USA in the US

This gloomy view is in a sharp contrast to the significant adjusted net profit of 1.1 billion USD, which was reported by the group in 2024 in the same period, and which is now estimated at a loss of $ 190 million.

Among the companies, only CleParkt Inc. is expected to show a profit from analysts.

This decline comes in January and an average price of about 75 % higher in the first quarter compared to the previous year despite the record high of Bitcoin.

Specific results are already emerging: Riot Platforms Inc., a large company, reported on Thursday about a loss of $ 296.4 million in the first quarter, a dramatic step back compared to a net profit of $ 211 million in the first quarter of 2024.

competitive pressure: record difficulties and rising costs

Several factors contribute to burdening the profitability of the miners.

A primary challenge is the increasing level of competition in the network.

The mining difficulty, a measure of the entire computing capacity dedicated to protecting the Bitcoin blockchain, has repeatedly broken records in recent months.

This increase in the global "hash rate" means that more miners compete for the same fixed amount of newly issued Bitcoin rewards.

"This will be an interesting quarter for the Bitcoin miner and maybe a challenging in the past few months," commented Brian Dobson, Managing Director of the Brokerage company Clear Street.

"We will experience margin compression and lower income from Bitcoin mining due to this higher global difficulty."

This intensive competition is partly a heir to the Bitcoin price rising at the end of 2024, which was heated by Trump's pro-crypto posture and made the miners to give up orders for more powerful, specialized mining machines (RIGS).

In addition, rising energy costs in some important US states have increased operating costs during this period.

The growth of international mining companies, including from Russia and China, also tightened the competition for the global hash rate, according to Ethan Vera, COO at Luxor Technology.

customs of customs and strategic hesitation

The direct and indirect effects of US trade policy are added to the competitive pressure.

The specialized mining rigs that are essential for the operation are mainly manufactured in Asia.

The tariffs on these machines, some come from countries such as Malaysia, increase the investment expenses for US miners.

Vera found that possible further diligent increases will be "very harmful, the return profiles and growth forecasts can be hindered", and added ironically: "With the tariffs incurred, I think that everyone outside the USA will benefit from it."

The supply chains were exposed to additional disorders in January

In the broader sense, the unpredictable nature of customs policy under the Trump administration creates strategic paralysis.

"The management teams are hesitant to develop a long -term strategy based on what the tariffs look like today when they realize that in three months we could have a very different discussion about what the tariffs will look like," said Dobson.

Kapitalgpass: Change in financing strategies

Access to capital has also become more challenging. Historically speaking, many public miners have strongly on "AT-the-Market" (ATM) shares to generate billions for the purchase of machines and the financing of energy-resistant operations.

However, the decline in the wider stock market has made the equity financing less attractive since the highest stalls after the elections.

As a result, companies are increasingly turning to debt instruments. Mara Holdings Inc., Riot Platforms and Claanspark have recently used changeable bonds or credit facilities to secure liquidity.

"I think the large public companies do not want to sell shares in the current market situation; this is complex to create capital, while the debt instruments are simply more cost -effective capital," Vera remarked

An additional difficult factor is the effect of the Bitcoin "Halving" event that took place in April.

This preprogrammed code update halved the Bitcoin rewards that miners receive for the validation of transactions, which cut their main source of turnover directly.

an unintentional episode?

While President Trump promised in the election campaign to make the United States a leadership nation in Bitcoin mining, the first quarter of his term of office seems to be characterized by miners who fight the challenging side effects of its more comprehensive politics.

tariffs increase the equipment costs and could benefit foreign competitors, while market volatility in connection with political uncertainty has made it difficult to access equity.

as Vera concluded: "In terms of tariffs, I don't think that Trump sees Bitcoin mining as his top priority ... The trade war is the most important thing for him."