The Mining Pod | Bitcoin Mining News

Welcome back to The Mining Pod! On today’s show, we’re sitting down with Leo Zhang of Alkimiya Protocol to discuss their novel trading solution for Bitcoin blockspace. Yes, you read that right! Alkimiya enables parties like wallets, miners or professional traders to take a position on Bitcoin blockspace. Widespread usage of this trading platform could enable wallets or others to issue on-chain transactions even when fees are high, balancing out the long term volatility of Bitcoin transaction fees. For miners, it might open up doors for trading a new commodity: Blockspace. Timestamps:00:00 Start03:04 What's Alkyamya?17:41 How can miners use?22:54 How does it work?24:31 Tech design of Alkyamya26:05 Alkyamya & L2s26:42 Building on Bitcoin33:53 New Bitcoin proposals39:11 Degen spillover41:20 Final thoughtsPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will, Charlie and Matt jump back behind the mic to chomp on this week’s Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining news–and what a week it was! We cover Cleanspark’s plans to purchase Bitcoin miner Griid, Northern Data and Genesis Digital Assets (GDA)eyeing public markets for the first time and we wrap up with a short local story on ASIC theft. Timestamps:00:00 Start05:18 Cleanspark Acquisition14:07 Northern Data IPO20:05 GDA IPO26:28 Bad Boys: ASIC thief28:08 Ordinals number go down :(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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Industry expert Ian Descôteaux from Pow.Re discusses evidence of pool consolidation, risks to Bitcoin, and potential solutions for decentralization. This podcast explores the growing centralization of Bitcoin mining pools, focusing on proxy pools and their potential impact on the network.Timestamps:00:00 Start02:48 Checksum's bio03:34 Canada & South America hash rate06:42 Mining pool centralization09:14 Proxy pools11:57 Proxy pool diagram13:57 F2Pool use proxy?15:14 F2Pool block template16:09 Cobo yield & risk19:31 Merkle tree evidence25:28 UTXO accelerator29:59 Selfish mining & 51%33:35 Covenants36:26 Antpool incentives38:38 Block withholding attacks40:17 How to fix?43:32 Are new pools likely?45:52 Final thoughtsPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC with Senior Producer, Damien Somerset.  Distributed by CoinDesk with Senior Producer Michele Musso and Executive Producer Jared Schwartz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Portland Hodl, a Bitcoin developer with Marathon Digital, discusses Slipstream, Bitcoin Core, soft forks, and the future of Bitcoin. He shares insights on mining innovations, blockchain reorganizations, and the importance of Bitcoin education. The conversation covers technical aspects and broader implications for Bitcoin's development and adoption.Timestamps:00:00 Start02:54 Thought on Bitcoin06:24 Slipstream12:42 Consensus vs standardness19:35 Slipstream technical challenges26:35 Slipstream profitability29:00 Why don't more pools MEV?34:46 Not enough developers41:17 The infamous/famous M block49:12 Bitcoin has always been a data storage network52:19 Re-org of Testnet459:39 Testnet3 hijinks1:06:48 Thoughts on Bitcoin Core1:13:15 Client diversity1:17:58 Softforks1:24:48 Consequences of softforks1:34:42 Orange-pilling people1:37:20 What Bitcoiners DON'T understandPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC with Senior Producer, Damien Somerset. Distributed by CoinDesk with Senior Producer Michele Musso and Executive Producer Jared Schwartz.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will and Charlie jump on the microphone to discuss Bitmain’s newest ASICs, the S21 XP and S21 XP Hydro miners! We compare against other ASICs like Canaan, Bitdeer and MicroBT while taking a larger view about how the ASIC market is going to transform over the next few years. We cover topics like AI infrastructure, commoditization of chips and how to compete in a centralized ASIC market!Timestamps:00:00 Start04:11 S21 Hydro06:53 Rackspace & rigs swapping13:46 AntSpaces15:56 Bitmain competitors22:54 Rig "commoditization"26:18 New Rig makers42:46 Final thoughtsPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Weng and Payne Cong of Foundation Logic, the team behind the new ElphaPex Dogecoin/Litcoin miner, join The Mining Pod to discuss their new ASIC mining startup, competing with industry giants, and the future of script mining. Learn about hardware startups, profitability comparisons, and the potential for diversifying mining revenue.Chapters:00:00 Start03:20 Ben Weng background04:29 Payne Cong background06:32 Litecoin+Dogecoin ASIC09:40 Why these coins?14:50 Is Litecoin the main revenue?18:39 Profitability21:10 Other revenue sources24:40 Calculators25:50 Hardware form factor28:15 Repairs33:41 Chips & production35:56 What foundry36:50 Chip allocations from Samsung38:40 Bitmain competition42:46 Final thoughtsPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Nuckolls, a 10th-generation Texan and Bitcoin veteran, discusses the intersection of energy and Bitcoin mining in Texas. He shares insights on optimizing mining infrastructure, the benefits of Bitcoin for the Texas grid, and the industry's future. Nuckolls believes Texas is poised for significant growth in Bitcoin mining.Chapters:03:12 Ryan's background04:38 Infrastructure as a service08:24 Generation vs demand11:03 When Bitcoin came to ERCOT13:47 Example deal16:26 Due diligence beforehand17:13 Capital intensive ops19:25 Demand on ERCOT21:43 Trading energy on ERCOT25:35 What is energy trading?30:06 The future of ERCOT & BitcoinPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC with Senior Producer, Damien Somerset. Distributed by CoinDesk with Senior Producer Michele Musso and Executive Producer Jared Schwartz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder if this flare gas thing with Bitcoin mining is real? Can it actually scale to solve real world climate issues? And how would someone go about making a project like that in the first place?Justin Ballard, General Counsel at Akon Energy & Founding Partner at Firm 21, shares insights on Bitcoin mining's legal landscape, energy deals, flare gas mining, and the industry's future. He discusses the challenges and opportunities in navigating this space, drawing parallels to the oil and gas industry.Chapter Markers:00:00 Start04:37 Justin's background08:37 Mining legal structures15:41 Energy deal examples18:55 Flare gas reality check23:30 Legal gas mining deals30:00 Learnings big/small operationsPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hardware game is becoming more competitive, with new entrants like Jack Dorsey’s Block, Marathon Digital-backed Auradine and more. And then there’s this whole AI thing which mining CEOs and others keep talking about! To make it straight, we brought on ePIC Blockchain co-founder Earl Mai to discuss ePIC’s hardware product line, the difficulties of getting a hardware startup off the ground, what its like to compete against Bitmain and how mining–and AI–could converge together over the next few years!Chapter Markers:00:00 Start03:07 Earl's background04:51 ePIC's products05:45 Earl's early mining days09:50 Moving from alts to bitcoin12:46 ASIC design process15:36 Why Bitmain dominates?20:15 Bitmian chip design21:51 Don't fight Bitmain24:41 Components26:18 Shoebox form factor27:39 How not to get scammed29:37 Next gen ASICS30:34 Intel update31:20 Competition in the space33:14 Is Bitmain slowing template propagation?39:06 Competitive edge on open network40:43 Where's the new competitive edge?44:20 AI and Bitcoin MiningPublished 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will and Charlie dig into this week’s Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining news, including the short report leveled at Riot Platforms, CoreWeave’s declined bid to purchase Core Scientific, BitDeer buying a fabless ASIC manufacturer for $140 million in shares and lastly, Cleanspark’s involvement in the Cheyenne, Wyoming Bitcoin mining slapped with an executive order by the Biden administration.Timestamps:00:00 Start02:31 Difficulty update04:51 Mining stocks08:04 Riot & Bitfarms16:30 Core Scientific rejects Coreweave22:00 Desiweminer (new AISC)27:21 Cleanspark vs White HouseSatoshi Action Fund's Poker Tournament at Mining Disrupt! 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! 👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show.👉 Watch our newest documentary, The Big Empty!Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.-Thank you to our sponsor, CleanSpark, America’s Bitcoin miner! And thank you to Foreman Mining, Master Your Mining!"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices