On March 24, 2025, amidst the repeated tug-of-war in the global virtual asset market, BTC once again broke through 87,000, alleviating some fear in the crypto market—according to CoinMarketCap data, market sentiment is at 31, an increase of 4 points from the previous day.

At the same time, a piece of news related to mining has caused a small stir in the market:

According to Public Pool and Umbrel, at 08:30 on March 23, Beijing time, an individual miner successfully mined the first Bitcoin block (888989) using a self-hosted Umbrel node and Bitaxe miner through the Public Pool protocol, with a block reward of 3.15188086 BTC.

I believe for many conservative Web3 investors, participating in mining in the early years was one of the best ways to profit. However, due to domestic regulation on virtual currency mining, this has quieted down in recent years.

And with the changes in global regulatory policies and the repeated rise in BTC prices, going overseas to participate in mining may become the next "opportunity" for everyone?

So, at present, can individual and institutional investors still enter overseas BTC mining, and how will they weigh the benefits and risks?

Portal Labs answers one by one.


Recent Mining Policy Review

First, it should be noted that mining is definitely not feasible domestically.

Going overseas is feasible, but it depends on the specific regulatory policies of the region. For example, in the past two months, some countries and regions for overseas mining have released signals:

United States: Regulatory warming, local governments expressing support.

Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally clarified that PoW mining does not fall under securities activities, greatly alleviating compliance pressure for mining companies. At the same time, Kentucky and Utah have successively passed bills protecting mining rights, clarifying the legality of individuals and businesses engaging in mining, self-hosting, and node operation. Of course, we should not overlook the fact that some states still maintain a cautious attitude towards energy regulation and environmental protection policies.

Belarus: The President personally promotes and encourages the use of surplus electricity for mining

In March 2025, the President of Belarus personally instructed the energy department to promote the development of the crypto mining industry and emphasized the full utilization of surplus power resources. Currently, the Mogilev region has obtained government approval and is actively planning to establish large mining farms. This high-level political support undoubtedly brings positive signals to the mining industry.

Pakistan: A major turnaround from prohibition to initial support

It is worth noting that Pakistan previously held a strong prohibition attitude towards crypto mining. However, starting in 2023, the attitude has changed, and by 2025, mining will officially be included in the energy resource utilization plan. Although the legal framework is still in the initial exploratory stage, this positive shift also provides some imaginative space for investors.

Russia, Kazakhstan: Energy giants continue to exert efforts

Russia has released multiple bills in 2024 to actively promote the operation and development of legal mining farms within the country, further enhancing the competitiveness of its mining industry. Kazakhstan is also encouraging large mining farms to operate in compliance and at scale while maintaining strict electricity regulation.

Canada: British Columbia's energy policy restrictions

Canada has always had an open attitude towards BTC mining, but British Columbia has recently clearly supported local power companies in restricting electricity use for mining farms through the courts. Energy supply pressure has become an important limiting factor for local mining expansion, which is a key factor that investors planning to invest in Canadian mining must consider.

Current mining regulation trends are showing a "polarization":

One category is represented by the United States and Belarus, where mining policies are tied to the development of the energy industry and digital economy strategy, incorporating mining into the energy scheduling system.

Another category, such as some regions in Canada, is tightening policies due to carbon emissions and energy load considerations. Investors need to focus on whether the energy policies in this region are linked to the mining economy to prevent future policy reversals.

But anyway, the recent global regulatory trend has clearly turned positive, reflecting the mainstream market's renewed recognition of BTC mining.

The core driving factors of this change include the economic benefits brought by the rise in BTC prices, the potential role of mining in energy transition, and the strategic considerations behind countries competing to lay out the Web3 industry.

For example, a report in February showed that the U.S. Bitcoin mining industry has directly or indirectly created over 31,000 jobs, contributing more than $4.1 billion annually to the U.S. GDP, and effectively supporting the stability of local energy infrastructure as a resource for grid load balancing.


Global BTC Mining Status

In addition to complying with regulatory policies, investors also need to understand: what is the investment return like at this point in time? It can't be that tens of thousands are spent and not even a sound is heard, right?

For investors, participating in mining generally involves three paths: mining pool custody, forming mining pools, or individual miners. So, how are the data on these two paths currently?

Mining Pool Custodial Data

In February 2025, the total computing power of the global Bitcoin network exceeded 810 EH/s, with the block production and output data of the top five mining pools as follows:

These mining pools control about 88%-90% of the global computing power, with Foundry USA and AntPool both building their own mining farms in multiple locations, and their custody services are large in scale.

In the mining pool custody model, investors do not need to personally manage the equipment; they only need to pay custody fees and mining pool fees to stably obtain returns based on their contribution of computing power. Currently, the annualized returns of the custody services provided by leading mining pools fluctuate between 18% and 30%, and the scale and compliance level of the mining pools are high, suitable for high-net-worth investors to enter with low risk.

Institutional Mining Farm Data

High-net-worth investors, if not considering custody, can also directly invest in or collaborate with large mining farms. Let's look at the actual data of five typical mining companies in February 2025:

Among them, Marathon and Riot fully operate their own mining farms, while Bitdeer, Canaan, and BitFuFu have both self-built and custodial businesses, with relatively stable returns.

Currently, leading mining pools are showing a trend of "self-operated mining farms + global custody," with the concentration of computing power increasing by more than 10% since 2023. In an environment where the mining pool monopoly pattern is stabilizing, individual miners face increased difficulty in competing for computing power.

Therefore, high-net-worth investors who rely solely on individual miners stitching together computing power may face high return volatility and fee costs. It is more advisable to directly connect with mining pool custody or institutional mining farm equity cooperation, which can reduce operational risks and benefit from the scale dividends of the mining pool.

Individual Miner Data

Although large mining pools dominate the overall market, individual miners remain active.

Especially through the following two models:

One type is the individual miners mentioned at the beginning, who use their own built mining machines and nodes to successfully mine blocks through the Public Pool protocol.

Another type is Solo miners. According to public statistics from Mempool, in February 2025, the average daily block production for Solo miners across the network was about 1-2 blocks, accounting for less than 0.7% of the total, with a very low success probability, but there is still a possibility of returns.

However, on March 24, 2025, Bitcoin mining difficulty was adjusted up by 1.43% to 112.15T, close to historical highs, and Bitcoin prices remained fluctuating in the range of $76,500 to $85,000, meaning that the competitive environment for individual miners remains intense.

Currently, the prices of mainstream mining machines have dropped to about $16 per TH, a significant decrease from 2022. In terms of performance, mainstream models include:

Antminer S21 XP Hyd.: 473 TH/s, Power Consumption 5676 W, Energy Efficiency 12 J/TH

WhatsMiner M63S+: 424 TH/s, Power Consumption 7208 W, Energy Efficiency 17 J/TH

Avalon A1566: 185 TH/s, Power Consumption 3420 W, Energy Efficiency 18.5 J/TH

Assuming that the individual miner uses the Antminer S21 XP Hyd., with an electricity cost of $0.05 USD/kWh and an average BTC price of 87,000 USDT. According to publicly available market data, the average cost of mining one bitcoin is about $24,119, and under these conditions, the daily net profit for the individual miner may be between 7.8-10 USDT, with a static payback period of about 12-16 months.

However, electricity costs are often the biggest unknown factor. At the same time, individual miners face issues beyond costs, such as block reward halving and equipment depreciation, all of which can affect actual returns. Moreover, in the next three years, with the advancement of the BTC halving cycle and increased compliance pressure abroad, the income volatility and cost pressure faced by individual miners may continue to amplify.

Therefore, it is still recommended that individual investors act within their means, prioritizing mining pool custody or node partnership to reduce operational risks.


Conclusion

Overall, the current BTC mining industry is at a "high coin price - policy-friendly - approaching halving" intersection of multiple factors, which brings certain profit space to the industry.

If project parties and investors can take advantage of this window to complete the layout of computing power and compliance, they may gain an advantage in future cycles. But regardless of whether to choose mining pool custody, self-built, or individual miner models, investors still need to combine their own financial strength, risk tolerance, and operational resources to make reasonable planning.

Here, Portal Labs suggests that investors should focus on regions with friendly regulations, stable energy, and significant electricity cost advantages for mining layout, and prioritize cooperation with mining pools or mining farm custody service providers that have good credit records and stable operational capabilities to ensure the sustainability and compliance of returns.

At the same time, investors still need to be vigilant: multiple risk factors such as price fluctuations, policy adjustments, equipment depreciation, and operational costs; reasonably plan asset allocation, and be prepared for risk hedging and flexible responses.


*Note: Investment involves risks, please participate in Web3 under legal and compliant conditions.