This article was written by Valentin Rousseau ( X: @MuadDib_Pill), Lead Analyst and Researcher at Hashlabs. Former researcher for Cambridge Alternative Finance on the Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report: Global Operations, Sentiment, and Energy Use.
Capturing an holistic view of Bitcoin mining regulatory environment and operating conditions across 18 countries, the Ease to Mine Index is of the most comprehensive research of country-level attractiveness for deploying and scaling SHA-256 computing power.
Although Bitcoin mining is inherently location-agnostic, its global expansion has revealed major differences between jurisdictions. Not all countries offer the same regulatory clarity, fiscal incentives, energy access, permit framework, tariffs exposure or operating conditions. This index aims at bringing transparency to these disparities and bridge the knowledge gap surrounding where mining can be sustainably deployed.
The index is based on a survey of 48 industry participants across 18 jurisdictions. Each country’s score reflects the relative ease of operating a mining infrastructure across several core dimensions - primarily regulatory - including legal and fiscal frameworks, permitting and licensing requirements, energy market structure and grid access, and tariff and customs procedures. Climate-related operating conditions – beyond the survey scope - are also incorporated and based on internal analysis.
A country offering neutral mining conditions typically scores around 0.50. Favorable environments generally approach 0.60, while unfavorable jurisdictions tend to score near 0.40.
Importantly, a country’s overall score rarely tells the full story. Examining each component often reveals more meaningful insights than looking solely at the aggregate ranking. For example, some may be surprised that the United States (using Texas as a proxy) scores 0.56, while Oman reaches 0.75. This difference largely reflects Oman’s highly favorable legal, fiscal framework and permissive permitting regime, which set the standard of a mining eldorado. In contrast, U.S. miners increasingly face tightening power markets due to AI/HPC, elevated tariffs, and stricter zoning regulations for data center construction and operation.
Capturing this granularity and nuance is the backbone of the report’s methodology. As public actors are shifting toward AI/HPC eyeing on high multiples and stable revenues, mining could become more opaque in the short term and less concentrated (geographically and operationally). There is no mass exodus from the U.S. historical mining hub yet. Instead, the phased shutdown of legacy mining hardware is acting as a catalyst for the industry’s ongoing global expansion.
Access full report here.
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