Bitcoin Mining Is ‘Essential’ Under Canada’s COVID-19 Plan

The “Great Lockdown” is redrawing the bitcoin mining landscape as the economic crisis makes smaller operations less profitable and access to China’s hardware supply chains crucial. 

“Many miners are relying on the bitcoin price to increase post-halving in order to stay operationally profitable, and that’s not an ideal situation for any business to operate in,” said F2Pool business director Thomas Heller, leading one of Asia’s largest bitcoin mining operations. “In early March, a number of miners had their bitcoin-backed loans liquidated, and other operators had to turn off their machines.”

It’s hard to say which miners now face crippling debts because few privately owned mining operations court publicity. Among those with public records, the Canadian startup Hut 8 owes roughly $14 million to Genesis Global Capital, an affiliate of the American crypto giant Genesis Trading (which is owned by CoinDesk’s parent company, Digital Currency Group). 

Hut 8 CFO Jimmy…