Biden-Proposed Tax On Bitcoin Miners Will Drive Industry Out Of US, Warns Marathon Digital CEO

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc MARA CEO Fred Thiel, has warned that Joe Biden's tax on American Bitcoin BTC/USD miners will likely cause them to move their operations out of the country instead of generating intended funds.

What Happened: Speaking on the fringes of the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami on Thursday said: “Bitcoin miners will just leave the U.S., which is really what they’re trying to," as quoted by The Block.

Thiel argued that implementing the tax wouldn’t result in an increase in renewable power, as building a solar or wind farm already results in a two-year waiting list to interconnect. 

He further added that Bitcoin mining in Texas is impacting other industries negatively, including companies running gas-fired power plants that are working to push out miners. The banking lobby is also said to be interested in limiting the crypto industry which poses potential competition to traditional banking. 

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Why It Matters: While Marathon Digital faces headwinds from other sectors of the economy, it faces relatively low levels of regulatory scrutiny, said Thiel, other than having recently received a subpoena from the SEC, which he indicated was simply a request for information, and not an indication of wrongdoing. 

Meanwhile, the company is looking to expand its operations outside of the country.

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $26,846.44, down 1.78% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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