MARA mines “Trump 47” block to honor first Bitcoin president

Publicly-traded Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital Holdings has announced the mining of a “Trump 47” block to honor Donald Trump as the first “Bitcoin president” of the United States.

MARA said in a statement on Jan. 17 that the visual marker now lives on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain, with this coming just days to the president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

In addition to embedding an AI-generated image of Trump in the block, MARA also included the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. This move permanently preserves these images on the Bitcoin network, the BTC miner noted.

Fred Thiel, chairman and chief executive officer of MARA confirmed the mining of the “Trump 47” block via X. 

Marathon Digital used its proprietary mining pool to mine the historic block, a move aligned with Trump’s vision of U.S. leadership in the Bitcoin mining sector.

“By owning our own mining pool, we contribute to American blockspace, reaffirming the USA’s leadership in the frontier of Bitcoin development,” the firm wrote.

Trump’s pro-crypto stance picked momentum ahead of the 2024 U.S. election, with the then Republican nominee attending the Bitcoin 2024 Conference. He also met with Bitcoin mining companies in the U.S. and since his victory, has struck a continued crypto-friendly outlook.

It includes in the decisions to nominate pro-crypto individuals to key government agencies such as the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. Trump team’s pick for SEC chair is Paul Atkins, who could oversee planned crypto overhaul. Meanwhile, former PayPal exec David Sacks is set to head White House’ “crypto czar” position.

Trump also pledged to support a strategic Bitcoin reserve, with Marathon Digital authoring an open letter urging the U.S. to make this a reality.