Marathon urges the US authorities to quickly increase mining capacity and BTC accumulations

What’s new? The largest miner Marathon Digital (MARA) from the United States with a capitalization of $8,03 billion has published a policy statement in which it called bitcoin a strategic resource for maintaining national security. The company believes that the US needs to rapidly increase its mining capacity and bitcoin holdings to ensure leadership in this segment, especially as other nations have begun to consider creating national BTC reserves following Donald Trump.

What else is known? Making the case for this strategy, Marathon’s management notes that there is a global trend towards de-dollarization and countries are increasingly turning to alternatives to the US dollar due to concerns over monetary policy and sanctions. This trend could shake the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency, undermining the US’s ability to finance its growing debt and triggering geopolitical instability.

“Without strategic investment in Bitcoin mining, the U.S. risks amplifying these challenges and accelerating a potential loss of confidence in the dollar’s global dominance,” the statement said.

Bitcoin’s limited supply and decentralization, as well as its favorable differences from gold, are cited in favor of bitcoin as a strategic asset. The precious metal as a physical asset is less efficient for global instant transactions, and its unauditable supply makes it a less favorable savings and inflation hedge.

Thus, for countries seeking financial sovereignty, bitcoin is more favorable, and the US, as the leader in gold reserves, should also be the leader in BTC savings, Marathon believes.

Bitcoin’s correlation with gold has fallen to its lowest since December 2023

Analysts point to the growing popularity of the first cryptocurrency as a safe haven asset

Read more

The company notes that the dollar is no longer directly backed by gold, but having significant gold reserves remains a matter of national security: these reserves would allow the US to transact if foreign nations lose confidence in the dollar. Similarly, the accumulation of BTC will ensure that transactions can take place “regardless of circumstances.”

Unless active action is taken now, US leadership could be lost. For example, the States hold just over 200 000 bitcoins, while China holds about 190 000. In addition, more and more countries are recognizing bitcoin’s potential as a reserve asset. South Korea and the UK are already studying the issue, while the authorities in El Salvador and Bhutan are accumulating the asset.

Suriname’s presidential candidate Maya Parbhoe promises to replace the national currency with bitcoin in case of victory

According to the politician, this will combat widespread corruption by ensuring transparency and accountability of budgetary funds

Read more

Marathon writes that equally important to financial sovereignty and maintaining US influence is also the dominance of the bitcoin hashrate and blockchain’s data storage space (blockspace).

For example, transactions in the bitcoin blockchain are processed in batches called blocks, and each of these blocks has a fixed volume for recording transaction data or blockspace.

Because transactions are the way people buy, trade, and manage assets, access to blockspace is necessary to participate in the bitcoin economy. The demand for blockspace and its limited availability make it a scarce and valuable resource.

Ultimately, user access to blockspace is determined by those who control hashrate — the processing power used to verify transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain.

Mining pools — groups of miners pooling their hashrate to increase the chances of mining blocks — are more likely to be rewarded for blocks and prioritize transactions when their hashrate exceeds that of other pools.

Ordinals developer presents a protocol to increase decentralization in mining

Casey Rodarmore pointed out that many pools have a single approach to prioritizing transactions

Read more

“A nation that controls a significant share of the global hashrate through Bitcoin mining secures its own transaction sovereignty and ensures that it can protect its economic and national security from foreign interference,” Marathon emphasizes.

For example, a high US stake in the global hashrate will prevent unfriendly countries from gaining undue influence over the blockchain and using it to censor and manipulate transactions involving US companies. Conversely, failing to ensure sufficient participation in the blockchain makes the US vulnerable to external pressure “in a world where Bitcoin’s importance as a financial and geopolitical tool is rapidly growing.”

Leading BTC miner Marathon has started tagging blocks mined in the US with a corresponding label

According to the company, the mining pool it owns, MARA Pool, will ensure that the blocks are actually mined domestically

Read more

Bitcoin mining, in addition to protecting sovereignty, offers the US economic opportunities. It encourages and supports domestic production, enhances energy generation and distribution, and creates pathways for sustainable resource management.

For example, without investment in domestic production of chips for ASIC miners, the US will remain dependent on foreign manufacturers, missing an opportunity to create a sustainable and reliable domestic supply chain. Right now, most US miners use Chinese-made rigs, particularly from supplier Bitmain.

Earlier, media reported that miners in the US have been unable to receive new Antminer lineup miners from Bitmain for several months due to import delays by customs at US ports at the request of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In addition, abandoning bitcoin mining deprives the country of the ability to monetize excess energy, optimize renewable resources and power grids, and stimulate economic growth through the creation of high-tech jobs — “opportunities essential for a competitive and resilient economy.”

With all of the above in mind, Marathon has made the following policy recommendations to the US authorities:

• Create a strategic bitcoin reserve
• Invest in bitcoin mining within the US
• Encourage domestic production of ASIC chips
• Introduce a clear regulatory framework for the industry and tax incentives for renewable energy use
• Leadership in setting global standards for decentralized networks
• Protect national security by controlling a substantial portion of hashrate

“U.S. lawmakers should recognize Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining as critical components of the nation’s financial and geopolitical strategy,” the company concluded.