♠️ bitcoin2025 in Las Vegas

This week, Las Vegas hosted the Bitcoin 2025 Conference at The Venetian Resort, drawing over 25,000 attendees and 300 exhibitors from around the globe. Many of the leading Bitcoin miners were in attendance, including Marathon, Riot, and CleanSpark. Block Green and POW.RE were also present, connecting with industry peers and partners.

💵 Paolo Ardoino: Tether to Dominate Bitcoin Mining Landscape

At the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the company generated $13b in profit last year and currently holds $120b in US treasuries.

He proudly revealed that Tether now owns over 100,000 BTC and has committed to reinvesting heavily in the cryptocurrency, stating that Tether was "born with Bitcoin" and its employees are "Bitcoiners at heart."

Ardoino also made the significant declaration that, with over $2b invested in energy production and Bitcoin mining, he expects Tether to become the world's largest Bitcoin miner by the end of the year, surpassing all public companies.

Additionally, he discussed Tether's new AI platform called QVAC, designed for societal benefit with non-custodial wallets for AI agents, and a collaboration with Rumble to launch a Bitcoin-first wallet.

🏃 Fred Thiel Urges US to Mine Bitcoin for National Reserve

Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, suggests that the U.S. government should begin mining Bitcoin, particularly utilizing excess hydroenergy, as a "budget-neutral" method to fill President Trump's recently authorized strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Thiel emphasized the urgency of this action, stating that the reserve is an "empty statement" without actual assets. While the reserve currently consists of approximately 200,000 confiscated Bitcoins, industry figures like Senator Cynthia Lummis advocate for more substantial acquisitions.

Lummis has reintroduced the BITCOIN Act of 2025, proposing the conversion of a portion of U.S. gold certificates into Bitcoin to acquire up to five percent of the world's Bitcoin without taxpayer cost.

However, Lummis acknowledges that significant progress on filling the reserve beyond forfeited assets is unlikely until Congress addresses stablecoin and market structure legislation, due to a lack of understanding about Bitcoin among many lawmakers.

🛑 Michael Saylor Warns Against Onchain Proof-of-Reserves for Security

Michael Saylor, executive chair of Strategy, has stated that institutions publishing onchain proof-of-reserves is a "bad idea" that poses significant security risks.

Speaking at an event alongside the Bitcoin 2025 conference, Saylor argued that this practice actually weakens the security of the issuer, custodians, exchanges, and investors by making wallet addresses traceable, thereby creating numerous potential security problems.

While acknowledging the industry's lessons from past collapses like FTX and Mt. Gox, Saylor believes proof-of-reserves is not the appropriate transparency measure for institutions, noting that it often only reveals assets held, not liabilities.

Despite many crypto exchanges and ETF issuers adopting proof-of-reserves for transparency post-FTX collapse, Saylor's company, Strategy, remains the world's largest corporate BTC holder without publicly disclosing its reserves in this manner.

🇺🇲 US Bitcoin Reserve Needs Congressional Bills, Says VanEck Exec

Matthew Sigel, VanEck's head of digital assets, believes that establishing a sustainable US strategic Bitcoin reserve would necessitate gradual growth through Congressional legislation rather than executive action.

He suggests that incorporating Bitcoin mining incentives, such as tax credits for miners using methane gas and encouraging them to share mined BTC with the government, into the congressional budget reconciliation process would be the most effective approach.

Sigel cautions that executive actions are prone to lawsuits, particularly for amounts exceeding $100m. This perspective comes as the US government, under President Donald Trump's executive order, has established a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, limited to acquiring Bitcoin through budget-neutral strategies or asset forfeiture.

Various figures, including Senator Cynthia Lummis and Bo Hines from the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, have proposed converting a portion of the US Treasury's gold certificates or revaluing existing gold holdings to acquire Bitcoin in a budget-neutral manner.

🗞️ In the News

• Michigan lawmakers have introduced four crypto bills in a single day, aiming to allow state retiree funds to invest in cryptocurrencies, prohibit state bans or licensing requirements on crypto, restrict state advocacy for federal CBDCs, and establish a Bitcoin mining program at abandoned oil and gas sites with associated income tax amendments.

• HIVE Digital Technologies has surpassed 10 EH/s in Bitcoin mining hashrate, ahead of schedule for its 11.5 EH/s June target, while its HPC subsidiary.

• Pakistan announced that it will establish a government-led strategic Bitcoin reserve, reversing its previous anti-crypto stance.

• Pakistan has designated 2,000 MW of surplus electricity for Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure, alongside tax incentives and the creation of a Digital Assets Authority, to attract foreign investment and boost its digital economy.

• Bitlayer has secured the support of major Bitcoin mining pools, collectively representing 31.5% of the network's hashrate, to enable its BitVM-based smart contract system on the Bitcoin blockchain and potentially generate additional revenue for miners through increased transaction fees.

🩺 Miner Reports

🏃 MARA

• MARA achieved a record high in Bitcoin mining revenue, surpassing $752m annually on May 27, fueled by Bitcoin's recent price surge to $112,000.

• This milestone makes Marathon the world's largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining firm by market capitalization. It represents its most profitable day ever, despite missing Wall Street estimates in its Q1 earnings report due to the April 2024 Bitcoin halving.

• Despite a 19% YoY drop in Bitcoin production due to the halving, Marathon has expanded its Bitcoin holdings to 48,237 BTC, valued at over $5.28b as of May 27.