Paraguay Earns More From Bitcoin Miners Even as Half of Them Leave

Energy

Key Facts

—Revenue up. Paraguay’s state utility ANDE expects $350 million in mining tariffs in 2026, up from $295 million in 2025 and $100 million in 2024.

—Miners down. Legal operators fell from 71 at the start of 2025 to 41 in 2026, a drop of about 42%.

—Concentration. The 41 legal miners reserve 943.8 MW, and four firms alone take 730 MW, more than one Itaipú turbine produces.

—Scale. Paraguay hosts roughly 4.3% of global Bitcoin computing power, behind only the United States, Russia and China.

—The deadline. Every current mining contract expires on December 31, 2027, and ANDE calls the date non-negotiable as it reclaims power for AI and industry.

Paraguay is squeezing more money than ever out of Paraguay Bitcoin mining even as nearly half its licensed miners pack up and leave. The paradox tells a bigger story about who gets to use one of the world’s cheapest sources of clean power.

This small landlocked country punches far above its weight in crypto. It hosts a bigger share of the world’s Bitcoin computing power than almost anywhere, trailing only the United States, Russia and China.

The draw is simple and physical. Paraguay runs on fully renewable hydroelectric power from the giant Itaipú and Yacyretá dams, and for years it produced far more electricity than it could use, making power unusually cheap.

Why Paraguay Bitcoin mining is consolidating

The state electricity company, known as ANDE, expects mining to hand it about three hundred and fifty million dollars in tariffs this year, up from roughly one hundred million just two years earlier. For an underfunded utility, that is a serious cash injection.

Yet the number of legal miners has almost halved, from seventy-one at the start of last year to forty-one now. Higher power rates and steep guarantee deposits, which can run to several million dollars before a large operator can even plug in, have pushed smaller players out.

What is left is concentrated. The surviving miners reserve close to a thousand megawatts of capacity, and just four companies account for the bulk of that, drawing more power between them than a single one of Itaipú’s twenty turbines can generate.

The state is tightening the rest of the crypto world too. The tax authority now requires people to declare crypto gains, chasing evasion and applying the ten percent income tax, while the country’s first criminal case tied to mining, over a noisy site in Villarrica, is working through the courts.

For the utility, bigger clients are simply easier to police than hundreds of small farms, some of which have been caught tapping the grid illegally. Consolidation, in other words, suits the government as much as it reshapes the industry.

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Digital assets

Jul 7, 2026 · 06:16

Bitcoin · benchmark

63,188

-1.26%

L 62,768day rangeH 64,221

-41.66% over 12 months

Market breadth · 17 names

6% advancing

1 ▲ advancing16 declining ▼

Currencies, rates & key inputs

Ethereum

1,773

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Solana

81.40

-0.63%

Gold

4,138

-0.42%

USD / BRL

5.14

+0.17%

Full instrument board

Instrument

Last

Change

YoY

Prev.

High

Low

Volume

BTC

63,188

-1.26%

-41.66%

63,995

64,221

62,768

37,815,750,656

ETH

1,773

-1.39%

-30.29%

1,798

1,806

1,757

17,449,949,184

SOL

81.40

-0.63%

-45.32%

81.92

82.35

80.52

2,821,921,792

XRP

1.13

-1.55%

-50.48%

1.14

1.15

1.12

1,797,170,432

BNB

577.51

-1.35%

-12.61%

585.43

587.15

576.64

1,317,139,200

ADA

0.18

-2.52%

-69.08%

0.18

0.18

0.18

458,691,136

DOGE

0.07

-2.15%

-55.38%

0.08

0.08

0.07

825,815,680

AVAX

6.75

-2.49%

-62.51%

6.92

6.93

6.72

267,650,608

LINK

7.91

-1.32%

-41.10%

8.02

8.06

7.83

248,460,992

DOT

0.86

-2.43%

-74.39%

0.88

0.89

0.86

97,216,632

LTC

44.07

-1.68%

-48.81%

44.83

44.93

43.86

221,178,240

BCH

238.42

-1.39%

-51.95%

241.79

242.30

237.91

176,973,632

TRX

0.33

+0.15%

+15.10%

0.33

0.33

0.33

537,863,168

XLM

0.19

-2.91%

-21.93%

0.20

0.20

0.19

438,065,632

HBAR

0.07

-2.58%

-54.95%

0.07

0.07

0.07

61,026,928

NEAR

2.02

-1.43%

-6.40%

2.05

2.08

1.99

307,011,200

ATOM

1.59

-0.71%

-60.74%

1.60

1.61

1.58

26,903,372

AAVE

93.90

-0.15%

-66.86%

94.04

94.18

91.24

308,610,208

Largest moves today

XLM

0.19

-2.91%

HBAR

0.07

-2.58%

ADA

0.18

-2.52%

AVAX

6.75

-2.49%

DOT

0.86

-2.43%

DOGE

0.07

-2.15%

LTC

44.07

-1.68%

XRP

1.13

-1.55%

The session read

The Bitcoin eased 1.26%, with breadth negative — 1 of 17 names higher. TRX led, while XLM lagged.

From The Rio Times

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The 2027 deadline that changes everything

The real turning point is a date. Every current mining contract expires at the end of 2027, and ANDE insists the deadline is firm because it wants that electricity back for homes and traditional industry as the country’s power surplus runs down.

The government has already signalled what comes next. A senior telecoms official summed up the plan bluntly, saying the country should unplug crypto and plug in artificial intelligence, and President Santiago Peña has courted Taiwanese and American investors for data centres.

What the Paraguay Bitcoin mining shift means for investors

The lesson is that cheap power is no longer enough on its own. Miners with local infrastructure, high-voltage connections and close ties to ANDE can negotiate fresh terms, while thinly capitalised newcomers are already eyeing Bolivia and Venezuela instead.

There is a note of caution on the AI dream too. Local experts warn that data centres need near-perfect reliability and cooling, and Paraguay’s heat, limited bandwidth and occasional blackouts make that pivot far harder than swapping one set of machines for another.

Why is Paraguay Bitcoin mining revenue rising while miners leave?

Higher tariffs and large upfront deposits have pushed out smaller operators while the remaining large ones consume more power at higher rates. The result is fewer miners but bigger bills, so ANDE collects more even as the operator count falls.

What happens to mining after 2027 in Paraguay?

All current mining contracts expire at the end of 2027, and ANDE says it will reclaim that power for homes, industry and AI data centres. Some miners may renegotiate, but the utility has made clear that crypto is no longer its priority.

How big is Paraguay in global Bitcoin mining?

It hosts a little over four percent of the world’s Bitcoin computing power, behind only the United States, Russia and China. That is a striking share for a country of about seven million people, driven entirely by its cheap hydroelectric surplus.