Bill Targets 97% Foreign Dominance in Mining Hardware
U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis introduced the "Mined in America Act" on March 30, a legislative push to strengthen domestic control over the digital asset supply chain. The bill directly addresses a significant strategic imbalance: while the United States accounts for an estimated 38% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, approximately 97% of the specialized mining hardware is manufactured by foreign firms, primarily in China. This dependency is viewed by lawmakers as a critical economic and national security risk.
To counter this, the act proposes a voluntary certification program for mining facilities that meet specific security and sourcing standards. Certified "Mined in America" operators would be required to phase out hardware linked to foreign adversaries. Instead of authorizing new spending, the bill would allow these certified projects to access existing federal financing programs through the Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture, positioning Bitcoin mining as a potential tool for energy grid management and rural development.
US Moves to Formalize a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
The legislation's other major provision is the formal establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within the U.S. Treasury, codifying a previous executive order from the Trump administration. This move signals a significant step toward integrating Bitcoin into the national financial strategy, treating it as a strategic asset to be held long-term by the government. The reserve would institutionalize the federal government's holdings, which currently consist largely of assets seized in law enforcement actions.
The bill outlines a "budget-neutral" pathway to grow the reserve. Revenue generated from staking rewards and airdrops tied to other seized digital assets would be converted into Bitcoin. Furthermore, it creates a powerful incentive for domestic production by allowing certified miners to sell newly mined Bitcoin directly to the Treasury in exchange for a capital gains tax exemption, creating a direct supply line for the national reserve.
Mining Investment Remains Strong Despite Price Volatility
This policy initiative arrives as data shows sustained long-term investment in Bitcoin's core infrastructure. Recent market analysis from Glassnode indicates that Bitcoin’s hash rate has remained elevated, holding in a range between 0.9 trillion and 1.2 trillion hashes per second, even as Bitcoin's price corrected from its late-2025 highs. This divergence between price and network security investment highlights the industry's maturation, reinforcing why policymakers increasingly view control over mining capacity and hardware supply chains as a matter of strategic national importance.
