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Edgen Crypto·Jul 23 2026, 22:30
**Marathon Digital is testing whether waste methane from a Utah landfill can power Bitcoin mining at a fraction of typical energy costs.** Marathon Digital launched a 280 kW Bitcoin mining pilot in Utah powered entirely by captured landfill methane gas, the company said July 23. "Landfill methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and this pilot shows Bitcoin mining can turn an environmental liability into a low-cost power source," Fred Thiel, chief executive officer of Marathon Digital, said. The 0.28 MW facility, built with Nodal Power, operates off-grid and reported 92% uptime with power costs of roughly $0.03 per kWh, according to Marathon's announcement. That compares with average industrial electricity rates of about $0.08 per kWh in the U.S. If the model scales, it could reduce regulatory pressure on miners and open a new revenue stream for landfill operators, though the project remains too small to meaningfully shift Marathon's overall energy footprint. **Why landfill gas matters for Bitcoin mining** Methane is roughly 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a 20-year period, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Landfills are the third-largest source of human-caused methane emissions in the U.S. Capturing that gas and using it for electricity generation avoids venting or flaring, which means Bitcoin mining at these sites can claim a net environmental benefit. Marathon's pilot is small — most industrial mining sites run at tens or hundreds of megawatts — but the economics are worth watching. At $0.03 per kWh, the facility's power cost is roughly 60% below the U.S. industrial average. If those costs hold across multiple sites, landfill gas mining could become a profitable niche for operators looking to lower their energy bills while strengthening their environmental positioning. **The bigger shift: miners as energy operators** The pilot reflects a broader trend of Bitcoin miners evolving into energy infrastructure operators. Marathon holds over 4 GW of energy capacity across its sites, Thiel said in a recent interview, and the company is evaluating which facilities to convert to AI data centers — a business that generates higher revenue per unit of electricity than mining. For now, Marathon continues to mine Bitcoin at those sites while the infrastructure is transitioned. The Utah pilot adds a third option: using stranded or waste energy sources that would otherwise go unused. The challenge is scale. One 280 kW pilot does not transform Bitcoin mining's environmental record, and Marathon has not disclosed how much methane the facility captures or what emissions it avoids. Credible measurement of those metrics will be necessary if miners want credit for emissions reduction. Still, the project gives the industry a concrete example of how mining can monetize waste energy — a narrative that may prove useful as political and environmental scrutiny of the sector continues. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
**The Trump administration replaced expiring 10% global tariffs with permanent duties of as much as 12.5% on 60 trading partners, citing forced-labor enforcement gaps across 99.4% of US imports.** The White House imposed duties of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners at 12:01 a.m. Friday, replacing temporary 10% global levies that expired at the same moment. The new Section 301 tariffs cover 99.4% of US imports and are the administration's latest effort to restore near-global tariff coverage after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's earlier IEEPA-based duties in February. "The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it's well past time for our trading partners to do the same," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. The 12.5% rate applies to China, Australia and Egypt, while the European Union, Mexico and Indonesia face a 10% rate. India's rate was cut to 10% from an initially proposed 12.5% after the White House cited "positive steps" on forced-labor enforcement. Goods already subject to Section 232 national security tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and copper are exempt, as are USMCA-compliant products and commodities including oil, natural gas and fertilizer. The timing reflects a legal constraint. Trump imposed the 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the Supreme Court's February ruling, but that authority carried a 150-day limit that lapsed at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The new duties, authorized under Section 301 of the same law, have no such expiration. A senior administration official described the action as "the most sweeping international labor rights action the United States has ever taken" and said the timing was chosen "to avoid complexity" for businesses. The International Labor Organization estimates 27.6 million people were in forced labor worldwide on any given day in 2021, according to the UN agency's latest data. Human rights advocates offered cautious support for the tariffs while warning that enforcement would determine their effectiveness. "It's possible to be extremely critical of tariffs, as we are, and to be very concerned about blanket tariffs used as bludgeons against countries," said Martina Vandenberg, founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center. "And yet I think it's undeniable that there is a significant response in terms of the adoption of import bans." Bitcoin fell below $65,000 after the announcement, reflecting a broader risk-off shift as investors priced in renewed trade uncertainty. The Yale Budget Lab estimates the US effective tariff rate at 11.8% across the economy, with the new duties expected to add one to two percentage points. **Further escalation ahead** The administration has signaled additional tariffs are likely. A separate Section 301 investigation into excess structural capacity — targeting China, the EU and 16 other trading partners that account for 70% of US imports — remains ongoing and is expected to conclude in the coming months. Simon MacAdam of Capital Economics predicted those tariffs would "serve as top-up tariffs to return overall US tariff levels to those in place" before the Supreme Court's February ruling. The previous escalation under IEEPA in 2025 imposed duties of 10% to 50% on imports from nearly every country, before the Supreme Court ruled that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize tariffs. That decision forced the administration to pay refunds to importers who had paid the duties. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act will likely miss its August 7 target for Senate passage before the summer recess, dealing a blow to the crypto industry's hopes for a 2026 regulatory framework. "I would like to at least get Clarity started," Thune told reporters. "We'll see where the votes are." Thune's staff indicated the next Senate floor priority will be a bipartisan bill imposing sanctions on Russian leadership and tariffs on trading partners — legislation championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham. That bill is expected on the floor next week, though Graham's funeral will occupy senators mid-week. The Senate returns for roughly three weeks in September before the November midterm elections, when lawmakers will be campaigning. Missing the pre-recess window sharply reduces the probability of 2026 passage, as the Senate's floor process requires multiple stages and a 60-vote threshold. The crypto industry had pinned its hopes on the Clarity Act as the permanent legal foundation for U.S. digital asset markets, following last year's GENIUS Act on stablecoins. **A Contentious Final Draft** The final working draft of the Clarity Act, released this week, has drawn criticism from both parties. A large number of Democrats have objected to its approach to limiting senior government officials — most notably President Donald Trump — in their crypto business activities. Some Republican senators have also raised concerns over the treatment of stablecoin yield and the language of the government-ethics provision. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican and lead Clarity Act negotiator, told CoinDesk on Wednesday that the most contentious sections remain open for revision, which she said could bring Democrats on board. Republicans and industry insiders had hoped that getting the bill to the Senate floor would sharpen urgency and drive deals among lawmakers to resolve final disagreements. **White House Remains Optimistic** White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt pushed back on Thune's assessment, telling CoinDesk he remains "slightly more optimistic" about the timeline. "There's that first week of August that the Senate is in session," Witt said in an interview with CoinDesk TV. "So I wouldn't count it out." Even if the Senate manages to pass Clarity in September, the House of Representatives would still need to follow suit — a process that would consume valuable legislative time in an election year. The midterm elections in November will see lawmakers increasingly focused on campaigning, further compressing the window for complex financial legislation. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has publicly backed the Clarity Act despite the banking industry's concerns over stablecoin rules, showing continued institutional interest in the legislation's passage. The delay contrasts with faster-moving regulatory frameworks in the European Union, where MiCA has already taken effect, and in Singapore, where the Monetary Authority of Singapore has implemented its own digital asset licensing regime. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
