Ep. 14 Hashrate Future Selling for Bitcoin Miners

05/24/23 • 48 min

On today's show, my guest is Patrick Guerriero and we explore a slightly different area of the bitcoin mining industry today; we dig into the finance & liquidity side of bitcoin mining. Patrick is the General Manager of the US for Block Green, Block Green is a decentralized lending protocol that gives sustainable mining operations access to fair and transparent liquidity from Bitcoin holders looking to participate in securing the network. They want to become the one-stop shop for the financial needs of mining operations, with strong ESG principles at heart. Patrick is coming to the conversation today with years of experience in the commodities trading world where he was the Director of Research overseeing investments in new energy technologies and he also has experience in the digital mining ecosystem.

During today’s show, Patrick and I talk about how in his past experience a traditional fund viewed bitcoin and bitcoin mining as a commodity but why they opted to not invest at the time; we then dive into how the market was valuing bitcoin mining operations and miner financing during the last bitcoin bull run; We discuss why it is so important to have liquidity in the market and how Block Green is helping usher in more liquidity options for bitcoin miners; and lastly we wrap up the discussion talking about how people and institutions are valuing hashrate as something they can purchase and what the future state of the hashrate derivative market looks like. As I mentioned, this is a slightly conversation than I am used to having on the show but I think that it is important to highlight some of the other important areas in the bitcoin mining industry for you guys & gals. And so with that, I hope that you enjoy todays conversation with Patrick Guerriero.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by our sponsor, the Texas Blockchain Council; a bitcoin-first nonprofit industry organization working to make Texas the jurisdiction of choice for bitcoin mining and blockchain innovation. They will be hosting North America’s premiere policy conference for the bitcoin and digital asset ecosystem on November 15-17 in Fort Worth Texas. For more information, please visit their website at texasblockchaincouncil.org

Support for today's show comes from SunnySide Digital, the leading wholesale distributor of data center and digital mining hardware and infrastructure.. Contact their sales team today at [email protected].

bitcoin, cryptocurrency, mining, energy consumption, renewable energy, sustainability, power grid, blockchain, technology, innovation, business, finance, investment, climate change, environment, energy efficiency, electricity production, utility companies, power companies, energy industry

Previous Episode

Ep. 13 Bitcoin Mining as an Energy Management Resource with Sam Copeland

On today's show, my guest is Sam Copeland. Sam is the VP of Sales at Navier, Navier is a software and infrastructure company that works to help companies develop sources of sustainable, long-term economic growth. Their expertise is in designing and implementing data centers which allows them to offer scalable, efficient, turnkey solutions for projects revolving around alternative assets. Sam is coming to the show with 15 years of experience in the utility industry with roles ranging from planning engineer, to distribution planning engineer, to solutions manager roles and so he is uniquely positioned to talk about just how beneficial bitcoin mining is to a utility company and the grid.

During today’s show, Sam and I talk about what the traditional tools a solutions manager has at his/her disposal at a utility company; what the benefits of bitcoin mining as an energy management resource are and how when it is coupled with all the other existing tools at a utility company you can really start to have a large increase in efficiencies; We also talk about how bitcoin mining is a great way to start ushering in more electric vehicles to the US; and we dive into thinking through how to put a proposal together for a bitcoin mining facility in a way that makes sense to a utility company. This episode really helps highlight why I am personally so bullish on bitcoin mining and to steal a line from Sam how it is a way “to get past bitcoin” and show that this is really an infrastructure improvement discussion that just so happens to also have a perfectly scare asset as the byproduct.

Next Episode

Ep. 15 Bitcoin Mining and Renewable Energy

On today's show, my guest is Chris O’Donnell. Chris is the Director of Power & Environmental Strategy at CWP Energy Solutions. CWP aims to help clients optimize revenues and mitigate risks associated with renewable and energy storage investments. They achieve this through services including AI-enabled Active Asset Management, Computing Infrastructure Optimization, Battery Storage Optimization, and Price Certainty Products/Project Valuation Advisory. With a customizable and client-focused approach, CWP Energy Solutions strives to ensure your portfolio is managed effectively and your assets are protected from market risks. Chris is also coming to the conversation with nearly a decade of power industry trading and business development and so his perspectives on how bitcoin mining is starting to enter the renewable energy scene is a valuable one.

During today’s show, Chris and I talk about how his company’s mandate to build out a renewable energy book was what actually facilitated the move into working with bitcoin miners; we also talk about how Chris’s perspective on the next 2, 5, and 10 years of evolution in the energy industry and how bitcoin mining will play a role in that; We discuss what the hell the duck curve actually is, how it might be coming for ERCOT, and how bitcoin mining can help smooth out that demand curve; and finally we wrap up the discuss on what challenges Chris foresees in the convergence of the energy industry and the bitcoin mining industry in the near future. This was one of my more enjoyable conversations for the show, Chris and I could have easily cracked another beer and recorded a whole other hour talking about all of this.