Malikie Innovations’ lawsuits against Marathon Digital and Core Scientific have sparked concerns about the potential impact of patent claims over Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) on U.S. Bitcoin mining operations. If successful, the lawsuit could demand years of back royalties, potentially driving defendants into bankruptcy or impacting other miners using similar technologies. Lawyers are divided on the validity of Malikie’s patents. Some question their strength while others point to potential infringement claims arising from Bitcoin’s open-source implementation. The lawsuits specifically target mining operations and raise questions about how this will impact Bitcoin’s network security. 10,000 patents were acquired by Malikie in 2023, and the legal action is seen as an attempt to extract settlements rather than courtroom resolutions. Despite these concerns, Bitcoin’s overall performance remains positive, with gains of over 11% for the past month and a year-to-date increase of more than 12%. South Korea has authorized national pension investments in Bitcoin, and new regulations have been introduced that allow U.S. states to allow Bitcoin reserves. This legal action follows historical attempts to assert control over Bitcoin’s foundational technology by Craig Wright, who unsuccessfully claimed to be the creator of the cryptocurrency. This raises questions about the future of Bitcoin mining and its potential regulatory landscape.