The Mining Pod | Blockspace Media

Explore the U.S. government's investigation into Bitmain amid national security concerns. Delve into the harsh realities of mining with record-low hash prices and the struggles of small miners. Discover Tether's renewed investment in BitDeer and Hive's ambitious $300M offering. Plus, hear about the surge in RAM prices driven by AI demand, leaving gamers and PC builders reeling. And don't miss the insights on Trump's executive order aimed at accelerating AI and energy research.

Steve Barbour, CEO of Upstream Data and a bitcoin-mining infrastructure expert, shares insight into the evolving mining landscape. He highlights the importance of energy partnerships for profitability and discusses the impact of new ASIC models on margins. Barbour argues that bitcoin mining is maturing with sustainable business models, despite challenges like mining difficulty and market pressures on public miners. He also emphasizes the potential for home mining and the significance of utilizing marginal energy sources such as oilfield gas.

Subscribe to the Blockspace newsletter for market-making news as it hits the wire! Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Haley Thomson, the director of energy trading at Luxor Technology, joins us to talk about how AI demand is impacting the ERCOT power market. For news, we break down Nvidia's Q3 earnings and the market's Thursday morning reversal, dissect a load growth report that suggests there are currently 166GW of US load growth demand through 2030, and discuss Cipher's $830M extension with Fluidstack. And for this week’s cry corner, The Financial Times is doing its best to report on AI like it has with Bitcoin. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com **Notes:** • Hash price at all-time low: $36.97/PH/day • Previous low was August 2024 at $38/PH/day • 166GW load growth projected through 2030 • Cipher's deal: $830M over 10 years • Google backstop: $333M revenue guarantee • Oracle lost $350B market cap post-AI deal Timestamps: 00:00 Start 01:56 Difficulty report 07:32 Nvidia smashes earnings 12:24 Grid Strategy Forecast Report 36:37 Cipher Fluidstack deal 39:25 Cry Corner: Oracle down bad? 👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner! CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK), America's Bitcoin Miner®, is a market-leading Bitcoin miner with a proven track record of success. They own a fully self-operated portfolio of mining facilities across the U.S. powered by globally competitive energy prices. CleanSpark sits at the intersection of Bitcoin, energy, operational excellence and capital stewardship. Optimally monetizing low-cost, high reliability electricity positions them to prosper in an ever-changing world. 👉 FBOX, Cooling for Bitcoin Mining and the AI Data Center Transformation FBOX is the global leader in cooling system manufacturing, with the #1 shipment volume of bitcoin mining containers worldwide. Not only powering for the strongest hashrate, their technology also helps mining infrastructure transform into AI data centers. Backed by the largest production scale on earth, global deployment capability, and a full range of cooling solutions, they are shaping the future of compute. 👉 Luxor, Leaders In Bitcoin Mining and Compute Power! Get game-changing mining results with Luxor Firmware. Boost hashrate, cut energy costs, protect your hardware, and maximize mining profits with LuxOS. Published twice weekly, "The Mining Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday and a news show on Friday! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe to the Blockspace newsletter for market-making news as it hits the wire! Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Haris Basit, CSO at Bitdeer, joins us to break down their Q3 results, where revenue hit $169.7M (up 173% YoY), self-mining production doubled to 1,109 BTC, and they achieved 41.2 EH/s of self-mining capacity. We dive deep into Bitdeer’s AI and HPC expansion strategy across sites in Norway, Tennessee, Washington, and Ohio, discuss the SEALMINER A3’s production schedule and A4 chip development delays, and get updates on the Massillon facility fire recovery. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com **Notes:** • Revenue up 173% YoY to $169.7M • Self-mining doubled: 565 to 1,109 BTC • Hash rate reached 41.2 exahash in October • Adjusted EBITDA: $43M vs -$7.9M last year • SEALMINER delays • AI expansion: planned across 4 sites Timestamps: 00:00 Start 03:32 Overview of report 05:43 Colocation vs self mining vs neoloud 09:30 Why do both colocation & neocloud? 10:42 Facility fire 12:13 Bhutan 15:01 Convertible notes 16:43 Future financing options 18:54 Cloud mining profitability 19:57 Choosing where to locate services 22:11 Alberta 24:03 Ethiopia 25:20 ASIC production 28:35 A4 delays 31:39 What's coming? 👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner! CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK), America's Bitcoin Miner®, is a market-leading Bitcoin miner with a proven track record of success. They own a fully self-operated portfolio of mining facilities across the U.S. powered by globally competitive energy prices. CleanSpark sits at the intersection of Bitcoin, energy, operational excellence and capital stewardship. Optimally monetizing low-cost, high reliability electricity positions them to prosper in an ever-changing world. 👉 FBOX, Cooling for Bitcoin Mining and the AI Data Center Transformation FBOX is the global leader in cooling system manufacturing, with the #1 shipment volume of bitcoin mining containers worldwide. Not only powering for the strongest hashrate, their technology also helps mining infrastructure transform into AI data centers. Backed by the largest production scale on earth, global deployment capability, and a full range of cooling solutions, they are shaping the future of compute. 👉 Luxor, Leaders In Bitcoin Mining and Compute Power! Get game-changing mining results with Luxor Firmware. Boost hashrate, cut energy costs, protect your hardware, and maximize mining profits with LuxOS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patrick Fleury, CFO of TeraWulf, dives into the company's groundbreaking Q3, where they generated $7.2 million in AI revenue and secured significant contracts with FluidStack and Core42. He discusses the balancing act of their complex capital structure amid rising demand for high-power computing. A chilling forecast emerges as he warns of a potential U.S. hashrate drop to 5-10% by 2028, raising concerns about Bitcoin's security and the dominance of miners like Bitmain.

The market for bitcoin mining stocks sees a significant plunge, with $20 billion lost in market cap. A fire at Bitdeer's Ohio facility raises alarms, destroying two units and highlighting operational risks. Lava's shift to a centralized custody model sparks trust concerns among users. Auradine unveils an innovative mining unit, promising efficiency but facing skepticism about production capabilities. In the Cry Corner, Jim Cramer’s fiery exchange with CoreWeave's CEO steals the spotlight, signaling tension in the industry.

In this fascinating discussion, Jonathan Goldowsky, Head of Investor Relations at Galaxy Digital, shares insights on their impressive Q3 2025 results, boasting $505M in net income. He delves into the launch of Galaxy One and the impact of their massive Helios data center deal with CoreWeave. Listeners learn about the monumental 80,000+ Bitcoin trade and how Galaxy is pivoting towards AI infrastructure, altering its Bitcoin mining operations and potentially reducing output. Goldowsky's expertise makes for a riveting exploration of the future of digital finance.

Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, dives into MARA's ambitious transition towards AI and high-performance computing infrastructures. He highlights the strategic advantage of owning energy over traditional power purchase agreements and explains the nuances of edge inference architecture. Thiel shares insights on their international expansion through joint ventures in energy and discusses the importance of private clouds versus hyperscaler hosting. Additionally, he reveals the complexities of Bitcoin's pricing dynamics as the market matures and institutionalizes.

Colin and Matt dive into major hyperscaler deals, highlighting Cipher Mining's impressive $5.5B partnership with AWS and IREN's $9.7B agreement with Microsoft. They explore Q3 earnings for public miners and a notable lawsuit involving OpenAI. The discussion also touches on the implications of these deals for AI's future in the industry. Finally, they ponder whether China is pulling ahead in the AI race, backed by remarks from Nvidia’s CEO and geopolitical dynamics that favor China's tech growth.

Kevin Dede, Managing Director and Senior Technology Analyst at H.C. Wainwright, provides insights on bitcoin miners transitioning to AI and high-performance computing. He argues that AI presents a larger growth opportunity than traditional mining, discussing the implications of recent deals, like IREN’s partnership with Microsoft. Dede also analyzes the failed CoreWeave-Core Scientific merger, offering perspectives on financing models and the potential for future AI-miners. He concludes by identifying promising miners with AI exposure, emphasizing the strategic importance of joint ventures.