mining

Fortitude Mining Holdings and HeartSciences today announced that they have signed a definitive merger agreement to complete a business combination through an all-stock transaction.It is reported that Fortitude Mining Holdings is a vertically integrated digital asset mining platform focused on Zcash mining.The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026. Upon completion of the transaction, the merged company will continue to use the Fortitude brand and will be operated by the existing management team of Fortitude, including Fortitude CEO Andrea Childs. The new company plans to list on the NASDAQ capital market, with the stock ticker expected to be "TUDE," but it still requires NASDAQ approval.

According to Cointelegraph, three major crypto lobbying organizations—the Blockchain Association, the Crypto Innovation Council, and the Digital Chamber of Commerce—jointly wrote to the U.S. Congress, requesting the unaltered passage of the "Mining and Staking Tax Clarity Act" without further amendments. The bill allows miners and stakers to choose to pay taxes either when they receive crypto rewards or when they sell their assets, aiming to address liquidity issues caused by "taxation on phantom income."Democratic Congressman Steven Horsford proposed an amendment to limit the deferral of crypto reward taxes to five years, but the CEO of the Crypto Innovation Council stated that the amendment would "undermine" the bill and only generate "negligible revenue." The American Bankers Association opposes the bill, claiming it gives cryptocurrencies a "significant advantage," while crypto lobbying groups believe that renegotiating the already reached compromise will "revive the issues the bill aims to resolve."

Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 has agreed to pay $2.35 million to settle a securities class action lawsuit filed by investors. The lawsuit alleges that Hut 8 made misleading disclosures regarding operational risks and potential issues related to the merger with U.S. Bitcoin Corp. in 2023.The focus of the lawsuit involves power and network connectivity issues at the King Mountain Bitcoin mining project in Texas. Investors claim that Hut 8 exaggerated the merger benefits and did not adequately disclose the associated operational risks. According to the settlement agreement, Hut 8 does not admit to any wrongdoing or liability.Documents show that the $2.35 million settlement amount represents approximately 19.6% of the plaintiffs' estimated maximum recoverable losses of $12.08 million. The settlement plan is still subject to final court approval.

According to CoinDesk, major lobbying organizations in the U.S. cryptocurrency industry jointly sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, urging the advancement of the "Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act," advocating for tax treatment options for cryptocurrency miners and staking income recipients. The bill was introduced by Republican Congressman Mike Carey, and its core content allows taxpayers to choose the timing of taxation when they receive new mining or staking assets—either paying taxes at the time the assets are generated or deferring taxes until the final sale.Industry associations, including the Blockchain Association, Digital Chamber, and Crypto Council for Innovation, have expressed support, arguing that the current tax system may force users participating in network security maintenance to bear tax burdens before they have realized the assets. Supporters claim that the proposal does not provide "indefinite deferral," but rather avoids immediate taxation on income that has not yet realized liquidity, thereby alleviating cash flow pressure on miners and validators.However, Democratic lawmakers and some external critics are concerned that this mechanism could be exploited by large mining companies for long-term tax deferral, especially in the context of some publicly listed or politically connected companies participating in mining operations, raising potential policy arbitrage disputes. Meanwhile, the industry's focus remains on the broader "Digital Asset Market Structure Act" (Clarity Act), but tax issues have become the second key battleground, expected to continue advancing in tandem with regulatory framework legislation in the coming weeks.

According to CoinDesk, JPMorgan's latest report indicates that as more miners operate close to breakeven, the Bitcoin mining network is showing a higher sensitivity to price changes, with the response of hash rate and mining difficulty to price fluctuations significantly enhanced. The analysis shows that the "elasticity coefficient" of mining difficulty relative to Bitcoin price changes has risen to 0.62 over the past six months, indicating that the hash rate is responding more quickly to market changes.Analysts state that Bitcoin prices have been below production costs for five consecutive months, with approximately 20% of miners currently in a loss-making position. Under profit pressure, publicly listed mining companies have increased their Bitcoin selling scale, with sales exceeding 32,000 BTC in the first quarter alone, surpassing the total for the entire year of 2025. As some high-cost mining machines shut down, the network hash rate declines, and mining difficulty adjusts accordingly.JPMorgan expects that as long as Bitcoin remains below the production cost of about $78,000, the high sensitivity of mining to price fluctuations will continue to exist. At the same time, some mining companies are turning to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing businesses to seek more stable sources of income.

According to an open letter released by The Blockchain Association, multiple organizations related to cryptocurrency and blockchain have written to Jason Smith, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, and senior member Richard Neal, supporting the passage of H.R. 9175, the "Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act," as originally proposed by Congressman Mike Carey.The joint letter states that the bill provides a compromise solution for the taxation timing and nature of PoW mining and PoS staking rewards under the "self-created assets" tax framework, avoiding immediate taxation on "unrealized gains" and reducing forced selling and compliance burdens. It also opposes the addition of additional clauses such as a five-year mandatory confirmation in the existing text, urging Congress to legislate as soon as possible to stabilize the tax expectations for blockchain validation activities in the United States.

According to BBX data, over the weekend, global publicly listed entities and major financial institutions in the U.S. disclosed the latest real accounts and strategic trends regarding Bitcoin spot accumulation, mining production liquidity management, and cross-border investments in Web3 infrastructure. The core updates are as follows:Grant Cardone, CEO of the leading U.S. real estate investment company Cardone Capital and billionaire, publicly announced on social platform X yesterday that the company has recently completed direct allocations of digital assets in the secondary market, increasing its holdings by 282 Bitcoins during the dip, demonstrating a strong consensus among traditional real estate tycoons on the hedging properties of crypto assets.Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining company Bitdeer Technologies Group (NASDAQ: $BTDR) officially announced the latest weekly Bitcoin production and liquidity settlement accounts on platform X. As of the week ending June 19, its net Bitcoin mining output was 218.1 BTC, and it sold 218.1 BTC on the open market, resulting in a net addition of 0 BTC to its treasury. The company reiterated its firm commitment to maintaining a "zero Bitcoin position, full liquidation and monetization" strategy in fiat currency operations to ensure efficient cash flow in its main business.Nasdaq-listed company NewGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: $NWGN) announced a strategic investment of $4 million in the decentralized prediction market platform K25.ai, helping it complete a total of $10 million in Pre-A round financing. It is reported that after this round of financing, K25.ai's post-investment valuation has reached $100 million, and NewGen is expected to hold a 10% stake in the platform, accelerating its ecological positioning in the crypto prediction narrative.

Galaxy Research stated that Bitcoin miners are entering a "Miner Capitulation" phase, with the current network mining difficulty having decreased by more than 20% from its historical peak, marking the largest drawdown since the comprehensive crackdown on Bitcoin mining in China in 2021.The organization pointed out that this is the most significant decline in Bitcoin network difficulty from its peak in the past five years, reflecting that some miners are continuously exiting the network or shutting down their equipment amid a sluggish market and pressured profitability.

According to market news, Galaxy Research stated on the X platform that Bitcoin miners are giving up one after another, with mining difficulty dropping more than 20% from its historical peak. This is the largest decline in mining difficulty since 2021.

The Ministry of Interior of Thailand, in conjunction with provincial electricity authorities, police, and local administrative officials, conducted a joint law enforcement operation this Saturday in five provinces: Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon, Amnat Charoen, Roi Et, and Maha Sarakham, inspecting 14 locations in total. The operation confiscated 315 digital currency mining devices, and investigators found that the individuals involved supplied power to the mining machines by tampering with electricity meters and illegally connecting to the power supply. The total estimated loss reached 40.38 million baht (approximately 1.227 million USD), which includes a 5.38 million baht fine for electricity violations and about 35 million baht in unpaid electricity bills. Relevant evidence has been collected, and authorities have filed lawsuits against the individuals involved.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the Bitcoin mining development kit has been upgraded to version 0.2.0, achieving its first complete end-to-end open-source operation. The latest version supports the full open-source deployment and operation of the entire Bitcoin mining machine development stack, and can display the mining machine's hash rate output data in real-time. Developers can directly launch the system and observe the real-time generation of the actual mining machine's hash rate on the interface. Its goal is to build a foundational technology framework that connects intelligent systems with physical infrastructure.

Oman has officially launched a national-level Bitcoin mining pool and requires all licensed cryptocurrency miners within the country to connect to this unified mining pool for operation. It is reported that the project is led by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology of Oman, and the initial target computing power scale of the mining pool is approximately 10 EH/s.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the Bitcoin mining development kit has been upgraded to version 0.2.0 and achieved its first complete end-to-end open-source operation. The latest version supports the full open-source deployment and operation of the entire Bitcoin mining machine development stack, and can display real-time mining power output data. Developers can directly launch the system and observe the real-time generation of actual mining power on the interface. Its goal is to build a foundational technology framework that connects intelligent systems with physical infrastructure.

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost stated that after the recent rebound in Bitcoin prices, miner selling pressure has returned, as evidenced by a significant increase in miner inflows to Binance. Darkfost pointed out that miner hash rate has decreased by about 28% since the end of October last year, along with a 20% difficulty adjustment. Currently, the production cost is about $76,000 while the Bitcoin trading price is about $65,000, resulting in most miners operating at a loss and being forced to sell coins.

According to CoinDesk, VanEck released a report stating that Bitcoin mining companies face a short-term funding gap of about $50 billion as they transition to AI infrastructure, with long-term capital needs of approximately $221 billion. Analysts indicate that the market focus is shifting from contract signing to execution risk, as the industry has only delivered about 25% of the leased AI and high-performance computing capacity, and companies that miss construction milestones face "structural downgrades" from investors.Bitcoin mining companies are turning to AI infrastructure due to declining mining profitability, with Core Scientific signing multi-billion dollar hosting agreements with CoreWeave, and companies like TeraWulf, Hut 8, Iren, and Cipher also announcing AI and high-performance computing plans. VanEck points out that the clearest valuation metric currently is the available operational power infrastructure, with companies that have signed AI leases valued at more than 10 times their operational power. The report suggests that HIV E, Bitdeer, Keel, and IREN have potential upside, while MARA, CLSK, and RIOT remain more closely tied to Bitcoin prices.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Bitcoin mining company Mara purchased 1,000 BTC from FalconX, worth 66.7 million dollars.

According to The Block, executives from hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor stated that the market's trend of fully pushing Bitcoin towards ETFization may pose a long-term risk to the core principles of the crypto industry. According to the company's Chief Business Officer Danny Sanders during the BTC Prague event, the current global crypto user base is approximately 600 million, but only about 10% of users choose to self-custody their assets, with only about 12 to 13 million users using hardware wallets.Since the launch of the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF in 2024, which has attracted over $53 billion in inflows, institutional allocation of Bitcoin has significantly increased. However, Sanders pointed out that this trend may also weaken users' behavior of directly holding private keys. He believes that self-custody is one of the core attributes of the Bitcoin system, but there are still significant challenges in terms of user experience and security thresholds, leading more users to prefer participating in the market through custodial tools like exchanges or ETFs.Sanders emphasized that the industry should focus on improving the usability and security of self-custody, rather than simply accepting the path of "putting Bitcoin into ETFs." He stated that if the long-term evolution leads to an ETF-dominated holding structure, it would undermine the foundational logic of Bitcoin as a decentralized asset, which could be the "least ideal outcome" for the industry.

Bitcoin has completed its latest difficulty adjustment at block height 953,568, with a decrease of -10.09% (138.96T → 124.93T), marking the 11th largest single adjustment in history and the second largest drop since 2026. Additionally, this adjustment cycle lasted approximately 15.6 days, significantly higher than the theoretical target cycle of 14 days, reflecting a recent phase of mining power going offline.Analysis suggests that the approximately 15% price correction in June compressed miners' profit margins, leading to some mining power exiting the network, which triggered this significant adjustment and brought mining difficulty back to a balanced level.

According to PR Newswire, Canaan announced its Bitcoin mining and operational data for May 2026: the self-mined output for the month was 90 BTC, with an additional 24 BTC from customer payments, ending with approximately 1,867 BTC and 3,952 ETH on the balance sheet, setting a new historical high.The company's self-mined installed computing power at the end of the period was 10.05 EH/s, with operational computing power at 6.47 EH/s. The average energy efficiency of self-mined machines in North America improved to 17.9 J/TH, an optimization of about 11% year-on-year, while the global average energy efficiency was 23.7 J/TH, an increase of 13.5% year-on-year.Canaan also disclosed that its joint venture project with WindHQ in Texas was temporarily hindered by wildfires, with full recovery expected by mid-June, and it is expanding its "computing power heating" project in Northern Europe and collaborating with Tether on immersion cooling mining machines.