@dsbatten
I like turning waste into power. Landfill gas. Eroding currencies. The human potential.
No relay list published yet.
Recent Notes
In 2006 I made a decision which meant I was working much more behind-the-scenes, but my impact went up about 10x
At the start of this year, I made a very similar decision, with the hope it would have a similar impact on the lives of people I care about working for Bitcoin
At the start of this year, I made a very similar decision, with the hope it would have a similar impact on the lives of people I care about working for Bitcoin
Issue #53 of the Bitcoin adoption letter is out. Check your email and spam filters.
https://www.batcoinz.com/p/what-hashrate-did
Included
- Analysis on how far through the BTC->AI datacenter Transition we are
- 2 reasons the hashrate decline has been good for thinks Bitcoiners care about
- Pretty charts based on new data
- And something different: what this could meet for trading hashprice and hashrate
https://www.batcoinz.com/p/what-hashrate-did
Included
- Analysis on how far through the BTC->AI datacenter Transition we are
- 2 reasons the hashrate decline has been good for thinks Bitcoiners care about
- Pretty charts based on new data
- And something different: what this could meet for trading hashprice and hashrate
“Knowing the Bitcoin→AI transition consequence on hashrate” is to trading hashprice as “knowing about which large pension fund are about to allocate AUM to Bitcoin”, is to trading Bitcoin price.
Tomorrow's newsletter will have a section and some pretty charts about this.
Luke and Brooke Cortese are Bitcoin legends
The rate at which they are orangepilling both businesses and everyday users is something we've not seen before.
The rate at which they are orangepilling both businesses and everyday users is something we've not seen before.
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Why are so many of the inspiring stories about Bitcoin adoption coming out of Africa and Latin America?
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3 years ago the mainstream press had one Bitcoin mining story: and it was about wasted electricity.
Since then, as they started to better understand the technology, the narrative flipped on its head. None of them framed it as a change of position, so nobody noticed there had been one.
Here's my favorite 21 quotes on Bitcoin and energy from major news outlets since the narrative turned.
BBC
"The bitcoin mine now accounts for around 30% of the plant's revenue allowing them to keep the prices down for the local town."
Wall Street Journal
"Bhutan now boasts a stash of bitcoins worth $1.3 billion, or roughly 40% of the country's gross domestic product, according to cryptocurrency platform Arkham."
Al Jazeera
"In 2023, the Bhutanese government sold $100m of cryptocurrency to double the salaries of civil servants."
Euronews
"The country's crypto mines could, at least on paper, have little to no carbon footprint at all."
CNBC
"At one of the Gridless pilot sites in Kenya, the hydro plant dropped the price of power from 35 cents per kilowatt hour to 25 cents per kWh."
Business Insider
"Numbers from Ethiopia Electric Power show the country raked in over $55 million from electricity sales for Bitcoin mining in 2024 alone—18% of their total revenue."
UnHerd
"This initiative flips that narrative by using Bitcoin mining to fund energy in parts of Africa that are too poor or remote to merit connection to grids, but which do have plentiful supplies of potential power sources."
MIT Technology Review
"We're making Bitcoin out of surplus energy and monetizing something that otherwise has no value."
Financial Times
"The cryptocurrency could allow previously unprofitable, small electrical grids linked to local renewable energy to become "financially viable" in developing countries and in turn improve electricity access"
The Independent
"Solar and wind energy installations could earn hundreds of millions of dollars by mining bitcoin during periods of excess electricity generation, according to a new study."
Reuters
"Engie is looking at installing storage systems or bitcoin mining data centers at its new solar plant in Brazil to make the facility more profitable"
Fox Business
"Some 52.4% of sustainable energy sources are used for mining, led by 42.6% renewables, including wind and hydropower, as well as 9.8% nuclear."
Times of India
"excess heat from [Bitcoin mining] computing could support crop production while reducing fossil fuel use"
The Street
"partners in the transition to renewable energy"
Forbes
"bitcoin mining is the only technologically viable solution for mitigating methane emissions"
Reuters
"MARA's process captures gas that would have been flared"
Flares leak around 9% of the methane straight through. A generator destroys nearly all of it, which is why capture beats burning.
Bloomberg
"Iceland has become a refuge for Bitcoin miners as energy costs soar and regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency operations mount in the US and other countries."
What draws them is a renewable surplus Iceland has no other way to sell.
Fast Company
Bitcoin mining "could help address a chronic clean electricity oversupply problem, which has cost energy companies ~$1 billion in the last two years"
That is Brazil, and the billion is what the oversupply has already cost.
South China Morning Post
"Now, in a bid to turn this excess into economic gain, the government is embracing the energy-intensive business of cryptocurrency mining."
Laos built the dams first. The excess is hydro it cannot otherwise use.
NRK
"The data center accounted for 20 percent of Noranett's revenue. Now it's the remaining electricity customers who have to pay that bill."
The town had campaigned to close that site over the noise and cheered when it went. Grid tariffs then rose 20%, around 2,500 to 3,000 kroner a year per household.
Inc
"Once online, miners become part of the energy ecosystem and oftentimes adjust their daily power use to help balance the grid."
A smattering of negative coverage still runs. What has changed is that the positive coverage is no longer rare. In fact - it is now outnumbers the amount of negative coverage.
The shift started happening well before the media started reporting on AI datacenters, and was as a result of a number of researchers and Bitcoiners who put in the work to make this possible.
21 positive stories on Bitcoin and energy, and not one of them written by a Bitcoiner.
Worth celebrating!
Since then, as they started to better understand the technology, the narrative flipped on its head. None of them framed it as a change of position, so nobody noticed there had been one.
Here's my favorite 21 quotes on Bitcoin and energy from major news outlets since the narrative turned.
BBC
"The bitcoin mine now accounts for around 30% of the plant's revenue allowing them to keep the prices down for the local town."
Wall Street Journal
"Bhutan now boasts a stash of bitcoins worth $1.3 billion, or roughly 40% of the country's gross domestic product, according to cryptocurrency platform Arkham."
Al Jazeera
"In 2023, the Bhutanese government sold $100m of cryptocurrency to double the salaries of civil servants."
Euronews
"The country's crypto mines could, at least on paper, have little to no carbon footprint at all."
CNBC
"At one of the Gridless pilot sites in Kenya, the hydro plant dropped the price of power from 35 cents per kilowatt hour to 25 cents per kWh."
Business Insider
"Numbers from Ethiopia Electric Power show the country raked in over $55 million from electricity sales for Bitcoin mining in 2024 alone—18% of their total revenue."
UnHerd
"This initiative flips that narrative by using Bitcoin mining to fund energy in parts of Africa that are too poor or remote to merit connection to grids, but which do have plentiful supplies of potential power sources."
MIT Technology Review
"We're making Bitcoin out of surplus energy and monetizing something that otherwise has no value."
Financial Times
"The cryptocurrency could allow previously unprofitable, small electrical grids linked to local renewable energy to become "financially viable" in developing countries and in turn improve electricity access"
The Independent
"Solar and wind energy installations could earn hundreds of millions of dollars by mining bitcoin during periods of excess electricity generation, according to a new study."
Reuters
"Engie is looking at installing storage systems or bitcoin mining data centers at its new solar plant in Brazil to make the facility more profitable"
Fox Business
"Some 52.4% of sustainable energy sources are used for mining, led by 42.6% renewables, including wind and hydropower, as well as 9.8% nuclear."
Times of India
"excess heat from [Bitcoin mining] computing could support crop production while reducing fossil fuel use"
The Street
"partners in the transition to renewable energy"
Forbes
"bitcoin mining is the only technologically viable solution for mitigating methane emissions"
Reuters
"MARA's process captures gas that would have been flared"
Flares leak around 9% of the methane straight through. A generator destroys nearly all of it, which is why capture beats burning.
Bloomberg
"Iceland has become a refuge for Bitcoin miners as energy costs soar and regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency operations mount in the US and other countries."
What draws them is a renewable surplus Iceland has no other way to sell.
Fast Company
Bitcoin mining "could help address a chronic clean electricity oversupply problem, which has cost energy companies ~$1 billion in the last two years"
That is Brazil, and the billion is what the oversupply has already cost.
South China Morning Post
"Now, in a bid to turn this excess into economic gain, the government is embracing the energy-intensive business of cryptocurrency mining."
Laos built the dams first. The excess is hydro it cannot otherwise use.
NRK
"The data center accounted for 20 percent of Noranett's revenue. Now it's the remaining electricity customers who have to pay that bill."
The town had campaigned to close that site over the noise and cheered when it went. Grid tariffs then rose 20%, around 2,500 to 3,000 kroner a year per household.
Inc
"Once online, miners become part of the energy ecosystem and oftentimes adjust their daily power use to help balance the grid."
A smattering of negative coverage still runs. What has changed is that the positive coverage is no longer rare. In fact - it is now outnumbers the amount of negative coverage.
The shift started happening well before the media started reporting on AI datacenters, and was as a result of a number of researchers and Bitcoiners who put in the work to make this possible.
21 positive stories on Bitcoin and energy, and not one of them written by a Bitcoiner.
Worth celebrating!
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I've just crunched some numbers on the BTC->AI transition on the ERCOT (Texas grid).
TL;DR: there's a lot more switching still to come.
*This chart doesn't factor in that at least some ASICS are being sold to smaller BTC mining co's who are staying on ERCOT.
TL;DR: there's a lot more switching still to come.
*This chart doesn't factor in that at least some ASICS are being sold to smaller BTC mining co's who are staying on ERCOT.
https://static.klipy.com/ii/d7aec6f6f171607374b2065c836f92f4/38/e8/5FAKdN1J.gif
Wish I could! But I'd be abusing the trust of 4 commercial entities and one nation state if I did! 🤣
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5/9/2027
I made a vow to the most wonderful woman in the world.
I am a very lucky man.
In light of my broken foot, I am putting the *right* foot forward into marriage 🧡🧡
https://blossom.pr...
beautiful photos. It was great to see you both together in Lisbon earlier this year. You looked and look so happy together. Blessings for a wonderful future.
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The amount of things I know about Bitcoin adoption/Bitcoin mining and cannot say publicly has reached an all time high
... and all of it is bullish for Bitcoin and the mining industry!
... and all of it is bullish for Bitcoin and the mining industry!
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