HashrateUp - A Bitcoin Mining Podcast

Most people scrap their old ASICs, ship them overseas, or let them gather dust. Ben Smith (Bear Market Mining) offers a fourth option: profit-split hosting that keeps end-of-life machines online in the US. Ben joins me — you can hear the miners running in the background — to break down the model he built at his Walnut Ridge site: a 5.8¢/kWh all-in rate, a straight 50/50 split of net profit after power (60/40 on S21s), no deposits, no rack fees, and no long-term lock-in. We get into why he'd rather stack the Bitcoin than take your dollars, the 10,000-unit S19 redeployment that inspired the whole idea, why he doesn't think hashprice climbs back to $80, how he keeps six-year-old machines alive with a wall of spare parts and Braiins firmware, exactly how the pool split is calculated every 30 days, and his hard-won take on immersion cooling (spoiler: 180 machines still sit in his bath). Plus the hydro build, dry coolers running in 110°F heat, and the too-cold startup problem nobody warns you about.

👤 Guest: Ben Smith — Founder, Bear Market Mining (President, Arkansas Blockchain Council)
Bear Market Mining: https://bmmining.tech
Optimization Calculator: https://bmmining.tech/optimization.html
Schedule a Consultation: https://bmmining.tech/apply.html
Contact: ben@bmmining.tech

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro — end-of-life ASICs and the profit-split pitch
5:00 Walnut Ridge: from immersion to air to hydro
10:30 The profit-share model — 5.8¢ all-in and why Ben stacks BTC over dollars
16:30 Redeploying dead fleets: the 10,000-unit S19 second-life story
23:00 Profit-split incentives: downside protection vs giving up upside
29:30 Why Ben doesn't think hashprice hits $80 again (Rockdale, difficulty, the bull case)
36:00 The construction side: 200 MW built + becoming Arkansas' #2 power buyer
42:00 Running old units: free part swaps, Braiins firmware & underclocking
47:30 How the split actually works: Braiins pool, 30-day cycle, power paid first
52:00 Full deal terms: no deposits, no rack fee — just ship it
57:00 Hydro infrastructure, dry coolers & the too-cold startup problem
1:01:00 Immersion reality check: why 180 machines still sit in the bath

🛠 Sponsored by:
Luxor — Mining pool, firmware, hardware trading & hashrate tools
https://luxor.tech/

Altair Technology — ASIC hardware, replacement parts & mining infrastructure
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://altairtech.io/aff/125/

📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup
📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/

#BitcoinMining #ProfitSplitHosting #BitcoinHosting #ASIC #S19 #HydroCooling #BearMarket #Braiins #MiningPool #Arkansas #EndOfLifeASIC #Bitcoin #HashrateUp

♻️ Get a free quote from 256 Recycling: https://256recycling.com/

Got old ASICs you can't sell, plug in, or ship? HashrateUp has partnered with 256 Recycling to turn dead mining hardware into upfront cash.

Thousands of S19J Pros and older units are stranded — no buyers, too expensive to export, and they often arrive broken. 256 Recycling collects your gear (hashboards, PSUs, PDUs, cables, fans), pays you upfront, and takes the whole headache off your hands.

WHAT YOU GET:
✅ Upfront cash for your scrap ASICs — small or large fleets
✅ Free pickup & full logistics handled (US & Canada, EU fleets covered too)
✅ Responsibly sorted and recycled in compliance with EPA standards
✅ Certification of responsible recycling provided for your records
✅ 400+ tons of e-waste already processed
✅ 50,000+ ASICs recycled in the last 6 months

HOW IT WORKS:
1️⃣ Request a free quote (mention HashrateUp for the best deal)
2️⃣ Team schedules pickup and collects units from your location
3️⃣ Devices are sorted and prepared at their nearest facility
4️⃣ Materials recycled to EPA standards + certification for your records

With hashprice where it is, the motivation to get the old out and the new in has never been higher. If you can't sell them, plug them in, or don't want to pay to ship them overseas — recycle them and get something back.

📲 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup
✉️ Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/

#BitcoinMining #ASIC #Recycling #Ewaste #MiningHardware #HashrateUp

Bitcoin's back above $70K and hash price ripped more than 10% — from the lows of $31 all the way to $35. Great news for anyone running machines. But public miners are still dismantling capacity to chase AI money, and this may be the first true hashrate bear market ever.

In this news roundup: a difficulty adjustment looms that could confirm bullish conditions, public miners have sold most of their BTC stack, Russia bans mining in Moscow through 2032, and the AI pivot keeps swallowing gigawatts — Riot's confirmed 20-year Anthropic lease, Core Scientific's Polaris deal, Cipher, TeraWolf, Ionic and more all trading Bitcoin mining for HPC. Plus the Zcash mining surge nobody saw coming.

The big question: if the AI trade cracks — China chip progress, cheaper models like Kimi K3 — what happens to the capital funding these 20-year leases?

🛠 Sponsored by:
Altair Technology — ASIC hardware, replacement parts & mining infrastructure
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://altairtech.io/aff/125/

Luxor — Mining software, firmware & hashrate tools
https://luxor.tech/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro — Bitcoin back above $70K, hash price $31 → $35
0:40 Upcoming difficulty adjustment — why it matters
1:43 Core Scientific closes Polaris deal — 1.5 GW Oklahoma AI campus
2:20 Cango's revenue halves as it pivots from mining to AI
2:47 Bitdeer revenue +47%, shares down 77%
4:42 Riot × Anthropic — 20-year Rockdale lease confirmed
5:14 $573M debt for 191 MW AI conversion — the cost of pivoting
7:10 Public miners selling BTC — 127K down to 29K
7:52 Russia bans mining in Moscow region through 2032
8:20 Sponsor: Luxor
9:51 Public miners shed 21% of hashrate as AI accelerates
11:55 The first-ever hashrate bear market explained
12:32 Cipher secures 900 MW Texas site + Black Pearl AI
13:38 TeraWolf hits 71% AI leasing revenue
14:16 Ionic — AI leasing replaces Bitcoin mining
14:54 Sponsor: Altair
15:25 Bitdeer's $400M Malaysia AI contract
16:20 Is the AI trade cracking? Kimi K3 & model costs
17:10 Fortitude & the Zcash mining surge
19:39 Hash price outlook & difficulty bias

📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup
📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/

#BitcoinMining #AIPivot #DataCenter #HashPrice #Anthropic #HashrateBearMarket #Zcash #BitcoinNews #Russia #HashrateUp

Third-party firmware on WhatsMiner didn't exist. Now it does. Brandon McWard (Associate Product Manager, Firmware at Luxor) joins me on site — you can hear the ASICs — to walk through LuxOS running on an M50S+, live screen share, feature by feature. We cover why MicroBT stock firmware has been a closed box for years, how Advanced Thermal Management replaces the binary "sensor trips, machine off" logic, why changing a power target on stock firmware costs you a full reboot and retune, and the niche feature built for one oil field client: Hash on Disconnect, which keeps machines hashing synthetic work so the generator never takes the load swing. Plus chip-level temperature grids, the overhauled logs, the 2.8% fee structure, and what's actually different under the hood between Bitmain and MicroBT tuning. This is one to watch, not just listen to.

👤 Guest: Brandon McWard — Associate Product Manager, Firmware @ Luxor
Luxor: https://luxor.tech
LuxOS firmware: https://luxor.tech/mining/firmware
Compatible miners: https://docs.luxor.tech/firmware/compatibility

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro & why third-party firmware on MicroBT is rare
6:20 Stock MicroBT firmware: the closed box problem
10:10 Time to tune & why power target changes cost you hashrate
19:00 What role AI actually plays in firmware development
22:00 GUI walkthrough: LuxOS running on an M50S+
34:00 Board target, hot & dangerous temperature explained
37:20 Save the generator, not the miner: Hash on Disconnect
45:00 Top 2 features for WhatsMiner operators + LuxOS fees

🛠 Sponsored by:
Luxor — Mining pool, firmware, hardware trading & hashrate tools
https://luxor.tech/

Altair Technology — ASIC hardware, replacement parts & mining infrastructure
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://altairtech.io/aff/125/

📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup
📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/

#BitcoinMining #LuxOS #Luxor #WhatsMiner #MicroBT #ASICFirmware #MiningFirmware #ThermalManagement #Curtailment #M50S #Bitcoin #HashrateUp

Bitcoin nearly split in two. On BIP110 activation day, a chain split actually happened — and almost nobody noticed. Coinjoined Chris (Seedor, Bitsurance) joins me to break down what BIP110 really was, why it was dead on arrival with under 6% real node support and near-zero hashrate, and what it teaches us about how consensus in Bitcoin actually gets decided. We go deep on fake pubkeys, OP_RETURN limits, relay policy vs consensus, the OP_RETURN spam wars since 2023, mining pool centralization, and why the "economic node" — not one-node-one-vote — is what really matters. If you mine Bitcoin but never think about what your hashrate is actually securing, this one's for you.

👤 Guest: Coinjoined Chris
X: https://x.com/coinjoined
Seedor (seed backup / self-custody): https://seedor.io
Bitsurance (Bitcoin insurance): https://bitsurance.eu

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro & who is Chris?
3:22 The origins: NFTs, JPEGs & 2023 fee spikes
5:34 Information theory & fake pubkeys
7:30 UTXO bloat & node centralization
13:18 Counterparty & what a node actually does
17:35 Consensus rules vs relay policy
22:43 DoS protection & who sets node defaults
24:14 Sponsor: Altair Technology
24:51 OP_RETURN limits & node implementations
28:16 2023 spam onslaught & the push to change consensus
32:11 The "garbage can" argument & the anti-spam steelman
34:52 The bell curve & what consensus really is
37:25 Signaling: node counts, sockpuppets & prediction markets
39:47 BIP444 → BIP110: cramming in the changes
44:15 Does the market even understand consensus?
48:12 Under 6% support & why capital isn't your voice
52:36 Ossification & the golden-rock debate
53:44 Sponsor: Luxor
55:59 BIP110 mechanics & what "activation" means
59:37 Cooldowns, "longest chain" vs most chain work
1:03:05 Activation day: the network splits live
1:06:28 Roughnecks & the block race that stalled
1:09:05 Pool power, centralization & OFAC censorship
1:11:38 Stratum V2, Foundry & why miners don't care
1:14:41 The economic node: not one-node-one-vote
1:17:35 What we learned & what's next (BIP54)

🛠 Sponsored by:
Altair Technology — ASIC hardware, replacement parts & mining infrastructure
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://altairtech.io/aff/125/

Luxor — Mining software, firmware & hashrate tools
https://luxor.tech/

📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup
📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/

#BitcoinMining #BIP110 #ChainSplit #BitcoinConsensus #SoftFork #OPRETURN #Ordinals #NakamotoConsensus #MiningPools #Bitcoin #HashrateUp