HashrateUp - A Bitcoin Mining Podcast

Michael Schmidt, better known as Schnitzel, bought a hundred S19J Pros for $40 each. Machines that used to cost $15,000. He's bringing them back with open-source firmware he built in his garage, with help from an AI agent and about eight burned hashboards along the way.

Michael is one of the lead engineers at the 256 Foundation, and he's back on the show to talk about Magina. It's an open-source firmware that does things Braiins, Luxor, Vnish and stock firmware simply won't. You can ramp a miner from 3,000W down to 1,000W in three to five seconds, where other firmware takes half an hour. You can follow a live solar curve. And you can run hashboards from completely different machines together in one rig, which no proprietary firmware will let you do.

We talk about why nobody built any of this before, why the 256 Foundation wants open rigs but not open chips, and what happened when Michael handed an AI agent an S19 and a power meter and told it to figure things out. We also get into why your miner's power API is lying to you about wattage, what he learned from destructive testing across eight different hashboard variants, and where he thinks this all goes over the next two or three years.

👤 Guest: Michael Schmidt (Schnitzel), Lead Engineer at the 256 Foundation
256 Foundation: https://www.256foundation.org
Follow on X: https://x.com/schnitzel

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro: Schnitzel, Teddy the Swiss mountain dog & proof of dog
3:04 The 256 Foundation: Libreboard, Ember One, Magina & Hydro Pool
4:13 Heat reuse goes commercial: the Swiss solar monetization project
5:00 The solar problem: chasing a production curve that never sits still
5:31 Why existing firmware takes 30 minutes to change wattage
6:35 Why nobody built sub-minute ramping before (and why it isn't malicious)
9:18 Proprietary hardware: the tire manufacturer who only sells whole cars
10:57 Open rigs, not open chips: what the 256 Foundation actually wants
13:52 What Magina is and how it differs from Braiins, Luxor & Vnish
15:06 Handing an AI agent an S19 and a Shelly power meter
17:03 Zero to 500 MHz: the board that died and the ramping fix
19:21 Destructive testing: 8 hashboard variants in a single S19J Pro
20:22 Physical vs digital: 2,900W on the API, 0W on the wall
22:10 Microphones, temp sensors and eight burned boards
24:13 Why the power API guesses, and why the PSU already knows
27:09 S19J + S19K on one control board: 130 TH/s from mismatched hardware
31:30 Building a Frankenstein miner from two dead machines
32:25 The $40 miner renaissance and bringing dead hardware back
34:04 Magina on a Canaan Nano, Proto chips and the wildfire moment
35:08 Get involved: dev calls, donations and hardware you're not using

🛠 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 #OpenSource #Magina #256Foundation #Heatpunk #HeatReuse #SolarMining #ASIC #S19 #Firmware #AI #BitcoinMiningFirmware #Bitcoin #HashrateUp

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