As more and more businesses are impacted by tariff volatility, some executives, like Ridhima Kahn, vice president of business development at Dapper Labs, are viewing the assault on the cost of physical goods as another use case for digital markets powered by blockchain to shine.

“I’m seeing a lot of brands rethinking where revenue and fan engagement come from,” Kahn said during an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. “A lot of franchises, like the ones we work with — NBA, NFL, Disney — have already had years of success with digital collection, and we’re seeing a lot of brands express interest in digital collectibles as a way to engage with fan bases at a time when physical costs are riskier and unknown.”

Propelling brands to take a deeper look at digital merch is the desire to better understand fandom. Flow now has tradable highlights like a “LeBron Dunk” or a “Steph Curry 3-Pointer” that live inside the NBA app and has commemorative NFTs tied to NFL game highlights in NFL All Day.

But with Super Bowl ticket stubs and other digital mementos powered by blockchain, digital goods are proving they can unlock deeper in real life (IRL) fan experiences, courtside or on the field.

“When you look at the amount of time folks are spending online or in digital environments, it’s only increasing,” Kahn said. “That’s really motivating brands to identify where their fans are spending time and where they can reach them where they’re at. It’s also a great way to engage a more global fan base simultaneously, versus in a more limiting, geo-targeted way, which caters more toward the global fan bases that want to engage with these brands.”

Digital as a go-to-market strategy

Because fan bases have become more globalized, the online experience just happens to offer a faster, more accessible environment for digital goods, particularly collectibles, versus the current marketplace for physical goods that’s being hampered by enigmatic tariffs.

Related: Are Donald Trump’s tariffs a legal house of cards?

“Average NFT sales are up 7% quarter-over-quarter, with NFL All Day and NBA Top Shot delivering $2.5 million and $5.6 million, respectively,” Kahn said. “We’re also seeing total value locked (TVL) at an all-time high of $44.4 million on Flow, led by protocols like KittyPunch and other markets that offer next-gen investing and trading opportunities — a trend that’s signaling a broadening use case for blockchain and crypto beyond just NFTs.”

Helping broaden the blockchain use case is the recently enhanced onramping and offramping technology that’s permeated throughout the industry, enabling a smoother user experience for those getting started in crypto and the world of digital commodities than what was available three years earlier.

Per Kahn:

A lot of blockchain companies are realizing the number of users they can have is capped if they don’t enhance the user experience. We’re seeing the enhanced user experience as a core driver of adoption, and from a regulatory standpoint, the positive moment for blockchain is also really exciting.NBA Top Shot sales have dropped significantly since 2022, but the start of the 2024-2025 season reignited interest. Source: Flow

Less fear, more utility 

As more defined blockchain regulation is established, companies that might have initially been skeptical of blockchain are now taking it more seriously because regulators are taking it more seriously, helping boost confidence in the tech, especially among well-known brands.

“IP-backed collections are winning,” Kahn said. “Upon Flow’s recent integration with OpenSea, NBA Top Shot was ranked among OpenSea’s top-five trending collections for four consecutive weeks. We go deep into specific fan bases to understand user behavior, and we A/B test our experiences, meaning the products we ultimately put out to market for fans are very well-vetted to ensure they’re actually what fans want.”

Kahn and Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou took a group of VIP collectors during the NBA’s in-season tournament to dinner and openly solicited their opinions on what they wanted to see more of on the platform. It’s the kind of swift, efficient, real-life research and development (R&D) that can more easily impact the end product, because the end product is digital.

Related: 4chan rises from the dead: How the imageboard moves crypto markets

“We take those insights back to our product team, and we embed those insights into our product to ensure we’re creating the best fan experience, agnostic of the technology we’re using to get there,” Kahn said. “It’s about what the fans want, and we leverage blockchain technology to deliver the fan experiences people might not be able to get elsewhere.”

Elsewhere being the physical goods market.

“The technology in our products really fades into the background, and what’s left is a collectible that feels meaningful, shareable and valuable,” Kahn said. “Digital collectibles unlock layers of engagement that physical goods cannot: They can be personalized, connected to real-world access, or used to reward loyalty for years and years to come. They’re also remixable, lightweight and global from day one.”

But Khan doesn’t believe the physical goods market is going to go by the wayside anytime soon.

I don’t think brands are turning their backs on merchandise. It’s more about expanding the playbook and looking to one of the few revenue streams immune to the volatility of physical goods as a way to engage with fans further.

Outside of the internet, sports and media fans are limited to where they are physically when it comes to purchasing a physical good and where they can take that physical good. But Kahn believes the next evolution of fandom is mobile.

“We love the concept of being able to take your most prized possessions with you on your phone, wherever you are,” Kahn said. “Being limited to trading in a physical environment isn’t nearly as fun as being able to trade wherever you are with people all across the world.”

Moving forward, Kahn believes brands will continue to expand their playbooks by engaging more with fans in digital spaces.

“Consumers are also going to be more willing to adopt new ways to engage with brands in digital spaces if the value proposition is there,” Kahn said. “If we’re able to continue to offer utility to fans for what they do in a digital space — and what they do in a digital space benefits them in a physical world — that’s going to be the recipe for success.”

Magazine: Crypto ‘more taboo than OnlyFans,’ says Violetta Zironi, who sold song for 1 BTC

Stablecoin issuer Tether minted another 1 billion USDt tokens on Tron, pushing the network’s authorized USDT supply to surpass Ethereum’s.

On May 15, blockchain data showed that Tether’s treasury minted $1 billion of its dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDt (USDT), into the Tron network. 

As of May 14, Tether’s stablecoin transparency page shows that Tron’s authorized USDT totals $73.7 billion, while Ethereum has $74.5 billion in authorized USDT tokens. If the newly minted tokens are added to the number of authorized USDT assets, Tron’s supply surpasses Ethereum’s. 

In terms of circulating supply, Tron also has the lead with $73.6 billion USDT on the network, while Ethereum only has $71.8 billion. 

Source: PeckShieldAlert

Tether’s USDT mints replenish the company’s token inventory

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino previously said on X that some of the company’s blockchain-based USDT mints are used to replenish their USDT inventory on blockchain networks. This means the tokens will be used for the next batch of issuance requests and chain swaps. 

In traditional business settings, inventory replenishment requires stock orders to meet demands. Similarly, Tether may mint USDT to maintain a sufficient supply and hold on to the assets until they are issued officially. This ensures that the firm’s liquidity management is smooth. 

This means that the authorized USDT supply on a network indicates the stablecoin issuer anticipates future issuance demand of the stablecoin on a blockchain. 

Related: Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here

Ethereum and Tron battle for USDT supply dominance

Tron led USDT circulation between July 2022 and November 2024. CryptoQuant data showed that an $18 billion USDT mint on Ethereum pushed the network ahead in 2025. Tron’s USDT supply quickly caught up, with the latest mint pushing it past Ethereum again. 

According to Tether’s transparency page, Solana has the third-biggest supply of USDT in the market, with $2.3 billion authorized on the network. Avalanche has $1.8 billion in authorized USDT, making it the fourth-largest. While Avalanche has over $1 billion in authorized USDT, the network has a net circulation of only $752 million in tokens. 

The Open Network, Aptos, Near, Celo and Cosmos have smaller authorized and circulating USDT supplies. 

CoinGecko data shows that Tether’s total circulation is at a record high of $150 billion, a 9.4% increase over its supply at the start of 2025. This gives the stablecoin issuer 61% of all the USD stablecoins in the market. 

Circle, its closest competitor, has $60.4 billion in stablecoins, giving it a market share of 24.6%, according to CoinGecko. 

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee

After the 2024 halving, Bitcoin mining entered its fifth epoch and block rewards were reduced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This forced miners to rethink their operations, optimize efficiency, cut energy costs and upgrade hardware to remain profitable. Cointelegraph Research, with insights from industry experts at Uminers, examines this transformation in its latest report. The analysis covers ASIC efficiency improvements, corporate performance, geographical expansion and new revenue models. As miners adapt, Bitcoin moves into a new era where institutional momentum and sovereign adoption could redefine its role in the global financial system.

Download the full report to uncover how miners are navigating this shift and what the future holds for Bitcoin’s mining industry.

The mining industry’s response to rising hashrate and shrinking margins

Despite the adverse financial impact of the halving, Bitcoin’s network hashrate has continued to climb. As of May 1, 2025, the total computational power of the network reached 831 EH/s. Earlier in the month, hashrate peaked at 921 EH/s, marking a 77% increase from the 2024 low of 519 EH/s. This rapid recovery underscores the industry’s relentless drive for efficiency as larger mining firms reinvest in fleet upgrades and energy optimization to maintain profitability.

The mining arms race has always revolved around power efficiency. With energy costs rising, the latest ASIC models from Bitmain, MicroBT and Canaan are further optimizing the energy required per hash. Bitmain’s Antminer S21+ delivers 216 TH/s at 16.5 J/TH, while MicroBT’s WhatsMiner M66S+ pushes immersion-cooled performance to 17 J/TH. Meanwhile,  semiconductor giants TSMC and Samsung are driving the next wave of innovation, with 3-nm chips already in use and 2-nm technology on the horizon. 

Post-halving profitability: The global shift toward low-cost energy

Bitcoin mining profitability has tightened significantly post-halving. Hashprice, the daily revenue per terahash per second, dropped from $0.12 in April 2024 to about $0.049 by April 2025. At the same time, network difficulty has surged to an all-time high of 123T, making it harder for miners to generate returns. To stay competitive, operations must extract maximum value from every watt of power consumed. This shift has intensified the search for cheap, reliable power, driving mining expansion into regions where energy costs remain low.

Electricity pricing now dictates mining profitability. In Oman, licensed miners benefit from government-backed subsidies, securing electricity at $0.05–$0.07 per kWh, while in the UAE, semi-governmental projects operate at even lower rates of $0.035–$0.045 per kWh. These incentives have turned the region into a prime destination for institutional-scale mining. Meanwhile, in the US, where industrial power costs often exceed $0.1 per kWh, miners face shrinking margins, forcing a migration toward more cost-efficient locations. Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia have emerged as key battlegrounds in this race, offering the energy arbitrage opportunities miners need to survive.

Download the full report to uncover how miners are navigating this shift and what the future holds for Bitcoin’s mining industry.

What’s next for Bitcoin mining?

The 2024 halving has reinforced a hard truth: Efficiency is no longer optional; it’s a necessity. The industry is shifting toward leaner, more optimized operations, where only the most power-efficient miners can thrive. The rise of AI computing, global regulatory shifts and ongoing hardware advancements will continue to shape the sector over the next 12–18 months.

Cointelegraph Research’s Bitcoin mining report: Post-halving insights and trends offers a data-driven breakdown of the key forces shaping mining profitability, infrastructure investments, and strategic decision-making.

Download the full report to uncover how miners are navigating this shift and what the future holds for Bitcoin’s mining industry.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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