Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies produced nearly $800 million worth of Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2025, the US Senate confirmed Paul Atkins as Securities and Exchange Commission chair, and President Donald Trump paused his sweeping tariffs for 90 days — except on China.

Top Bitcoin miners produced nearly $800 million of BTC in Q1 2025

The largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies produced nearly $800 million worth of Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting continued growth across the sector as Bitcoin prices held near record highs.

According to publicly available data compiled by Cointelegraph, the top Bitcoin mining companies produced over 9,700 Bitcoin (BTC) in the first quarter. With Bitcoin trading at around $81,600 at the time of writing, the total production was valued at around $800 million. 

Marathon Digital, the biggest Bitcoin mining company by market capitalization, led the pack with 2,285 Bitcoin (worth roughly $186 million) mined in Q1. 

CleanSpark followed with 1,950 BTC mined in Q1, valued near $160 million. CleanSpark’s March performance also saw a 13.4% increase month-on-month. 

On April 3, Marathon announced that it produced 829 BTC in March, up 17.4% from February and 10.5% higher than January.

Iren, formerly Iris Energy, produced the third-highest amount for the quarter. The mining firm reported a total of 1,513 BTC, worth almost $124 million.

US Senate confirms Paul Atkins to lead Trump’s SEC

The US Senate on April 9 confirmed US President Donald Trump’s nominee, Paul Atkins, as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission in a 52-44 vote largely along party lines.

Trump named the pro-crypto former Wall Street consultant to lead the agency late last year, who was also an SEC commissioner between 2002 and 2008. 

Atkins founded the financial consulting firm Patomak Global Partners after he left the SEC in 2009 and served as co-chair of the crypto advocacy group Token Alliance between 2017 and late 2024.

After he’s sworn in, Atkins will follow on from former chair Gary Gensler, whose tenure saw the agency launch multiple lawsuits and investigations against crypto firms over alleged breaches of securities laws.

Atkins is expected to take a different approach. He said at a Senate confirmation hearing in March that a top priority of his time at the SEC would be “to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent, and principled approach.”

Trump pauses some tariffs, boosts China’s

United States President Donald Trump issued a 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs” and lowered the tariff rate to 10% on countries that do not retaliate with counter-tariffs.

The president also said he would increase the reciprocal tariff rate on China to 125% due to the country’s counter-tariffs against the US. Trump wrote in an April 9 Truth Social post:

“At some point, hopefully, in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

According to data from TradingView, the S&P 500 index rallied close to 7% following the announcement, showcasing the high volatility of capital markets amid the macroeconomic uncertainty and the potential for a protracted trade conflict.