US-listed Bitcoin mining companies have raised more than $3.7 billion to buy BTC since November last year

As competition for resources intensifies, U.S. bitcoin miners are accumulating cryptocurrency funds to help them withstand tightening profit margins. Since November, companies such as Mara Holdings, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark have raised more than $3.7 billion from investors and then used the funds to buy bitcoin. The companies often raised funds through zero- or near-zero-interest convertible notes. “If the price of bitcoin doesn’t rise, we’re going to see a lot of miners start to close or go bankrupt,” said James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares. The bigger challenge, executives say, comes from large artificial intelligence developers with more financial resources than miners. “AI demand in the U.S. will greatly affect how much bitcoin mining can be increased,” said Russell Cann, chief development officer at Core Scientific, who predicts that most of bitcoin’s computing power will be outside the U.S. in the coming years. “It can only be explained by math: What is the best use of the power grid as a bitcoin mining facility or as an AI data center? And right now, from an economic perspective, AI will be the best use,” Cann said. In addition, Mara aims to move half of its mines overseas by 2028, with expansion in places with energy surpluses such as Kenya, the UAE and Paraguay. (FT)