MARA CEO: Bitcoin mining companies must control power resources, or they will struggle to survive before the next halving

According to CoinDesk, MARA Holdings CEO Fred Thiel stated that the Bitcoin mining industry is entering a difficult period, with increasing competition, rising energy demands, and shrinking profits. He noted that Bitcoin mining is a zero-sum game, where increased hash power raises mining difficulty and energy costs, compressing profit margins.

The industry is becoming increasingly brutal, and only mining companies that secure low-cost, reliable energy or adopt new business models will survive. Many mining companies are turning to artificial intelligence or high-performance computing infrastructure, while some are being pushed out of the market by participants deploying their own hardware at low costs. Thiel warned that after the next Bitcoin halving in 2028, the survival environment for mining companies will be even harsher, with block rewards dropping to just above 1.5 Bitcoins. Unless transaction fees rise or coin prices soar, the mining economy will struggle to sustain itself.

The design philosophy of Bitcoin is that transaction fees will eventually replace block subsidies, but this has not happened. Currently, transaction fees are generally low, and although there have been brief spikes, they cannot replace block subsidies. In this environment, small mining companies are under immense pressure. Large mining companies are adapting by controlling energy sources and investing in AI-specific infrastructure, while more streamlined mining companies may be forced to shut down.

Thiel expects the market to self-regulate, stating, "By 2028, mining companies will either become power producers, be acquired by power producers, or collaborate with power producers."