HashrateUp - A Bitcoin Mining Podcast

🔗 Brad Cuddy:
Website: https://chollainc.com/energy
X (Twitter): https://x.com/_BradCuddy_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleycuddy/

In this episode of HashrateUp, Jesse sits down with Brad Cuddy, Director of Energy Operations at Cholla Inc., to unpack the "ASIC retirement home" strategy: buying S19 J Pros for $30 a unit and making them profitable on ultra-cheap Texas power.

Brad explains how Cholla, a three-generation oil & gas exploration company, turned its mining arm into an R&D lab for the wider industry: flexible-load curtailment in ERCOT's energy-only market, early bets on hydro and immersion cooling, and breaking even by mining only when power is cheap. The conversation then widens into the structural shift reshaping mining: pubcos liquidating fleets, megawatts and ASICs being lost to the AI pivot, and what that means for US hashrate.

Whether you run flexible load, hunt for low-cost ASICs, or want to understand where Bitcoin mining goes as AI swallows power capacity, this one is packed with ground-level insight from someone operating at the source.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro & the $30 ASIC tweet
1:30 What Cholla Inc. actually does
5:00 Flexible load: mining only when power is cheap
8:30 Why Bitcoin is the most unique commodity business
12:00 Demand-response software stack (Load, Foreman, Luxor)
15:30 Curtailment strike prices & response times
18:30 Whatsminer vs custom firmware for flexible load
22:00 The $30 S19 J Pro retirement home strategy
26:00 Scrap value as the new price floor
29:00 Pubcos, AI pivot & where lost hashrate goes
33:00 Securing megawatts in B/C-tier jurisdictions
36:00 Oil exploration, Waha pricing & powered-land development
40:00 Rapid fire: best units, hydro vs air, efficiency jumps

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

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🔗 Ryan Nuckolls:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-nuckolls-36a9975bX (Twitter): https://x.com/RyanNuckolls_🔗 Texas Energy Group:Website: https://texasenergygroup.comEnergy Management: https://texasenergygroup.com/energy-management/In this episode of HashrateUp, Jesse sits down with Ryan Nuckolls from Texas Energy Group to unpack what is really happening on the ground in Texas power, AI data centers, and Bitcoin mining site development.Ryan explains how TEG works from "permit to power," why AI and HPC buyers are changing the value of energized land, and why Bitcoin miners are increasingly being pushed behind the meter into stranded energy, flare gas, small-scale gas generation, and more flexible power situations.The conversation gets into ERCOT, power trading, land deals, timelines, natural gas generation, grid interconnections, the AI bubble question, why AI can outbid Bitcoin miners for premium electrons, and why cheap ASIC prices may still create one of the more interesting mining opportunities if hashprice turns.TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro0:39 Ryan returns to HashrateUp0:48 Texas Energy Group and the AI pivot3:00 From oil and gas power to "permit to power" infrastructure5:30 How long energy and land development deals actually take6:29 Permitting, counties, and political risk8:55 Does AI baseload demand help the Texas grid?9:20 AI bubble risk and the dot-com comparison12:24 What happens to a 10 MW mining site if mining disappears?15:01 Natural gas, grid power, BESS, and backup generation18:20 Bitcoin miners vs AI data centers: speed, scale, and timelines21:08 Why air-cooled Bitcoin miners are moving behind the meter21:20 Where Ryan thinks hash rate goes next24:04 Why AI can outbid Bitcoin miners for electrons27:00 Europe, Germany, and the U.S. compute opportunity30:25 Are developers overbuilding for AI?33:05 Why cheap ASICs may still be a good bet33:31 Rapid fire36:09 Ryan's favorite gas engine setup🛠 Sponsored by:SoloMining - Home & solo mining made easyCode: HASHRATEUPhttps://solomining.deAltair Technology - Buy Bitcoin Mining SolutionsCode: HASHRATEUPhttps://altairtech.io📲 HashrateUp Hardware DealsTelegram: https://t.me/hashrateup📩 Learn Bitcoin Mining (Free 5 Day Course)https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/

🔗 Matthew Carson:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-carson-354b4715a/🔗 Hash House:Website: https://hashhouse.tech/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hashhouse/In this episode of HashrateUp, Jesse sits down with Matthew Carson, Chief Business Officer at Hash House, to break down the real-world tradeoffs behind Bitcoin mining infrastructure, hydro cooling, immersion cooling, ASIC deployments, and the future of high-density compute.Matthew has worked across large-scale mining and infrastructure projects for more than a decade, including projects across hundreds of megawatts and multiple countries. In this conversation, he explains why cheap infrastructure can destroy long-term mining ROI, how operators should think about hydro vs immersion systems, and what actually matters when building containers, power setups, and cooling systems that need to survive real field conditions.What's covered in this episode:Jesse and Matthew discuss Hash House's liquid-cooled mining infrastructure, ASIC manufacturer differences, hydro container design, immersion tradeoffs, generator deployments, power-price strategy, and why total realized hashrate over a machine's lifespan matters more than simple spreadsheet assumptions.They also get into the AI/HPC overlap, why converting Bitcoin mining sites into AI data centers is not as simple as many people think, and how miners should evaluate long-term infrastructure decisions as compute density keeps rising.Timestamps:0:00 Intro0:32 Matthew Carson & Hash House1:03 What Hash House builds2:46 Hydro vs immersion: which would Matthew choose?5:53 ASIC form factors & the Bitmain compatibility problem7:12 Custom containers, lead times & generator setups8:56 Why premium mining infrastructure wins10:38 Altair ad / hardware sales11:29 What miners miss about cooling systems12:35 30-year containers vs cheap infrastructure14:28 Bitcoin mining shifts toward curtailable low-cost power17:27 Total realized hashrate over equipment lifespan18:34 Best ASIC manufacturers to buy20:21 Excel models vs real-world failure rates22:04 Solo mining ad22:47 Chinese manufacturing quality & German components25:11 AI/HPC pivot: why it is not as simple as it looks27:00 Hybrid AI + Bitcoin mining power strategy29:22 Biggest and most interesting deployments31:13 Rapid fire mining infrastructure questions32:35 Where to find Hash House / closing🛠 Sponsored by:SoloMining – Home & solo mining made easy Code: HASHRATEUP https://solomining.deAltair Technology – Buy Bitcoin Mining Solutions Code: HASHRATEUP https://altairtech.io📲 HashrateUp Hardware Deals Telegram: https://t.me/hashrateup📩 Learn Bitcoin Mining (Free 5 Day Course) https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/Subscribe for more Bitcoin mining conversations, mining infrastructure breakdowns, ASIC market insights, and hashrate strategy.#BitcoinMining #HydroCooling #ImmersionCooling #ASICMining

In this NEWS episode of HashrateUp, Jesse breaks down the latest earnings reports, structural shifts, and AI pivots reshaping the Bitcoin mining industry.From Bitdeer's collapsing miner sales and Canaan's $23M quarterly loss to Mara dumping 38% of its Bitcoin treasury and laying off 15% of staff, the signals all point one direction: nobody is buying miners, and the companies that own power are pivoting hard to AI. Meanwhile, AI-focused funds like Situational Awareness LP are quietly accumulating mining stocks, not for the hashrate, but for the energized megawatts underneath.Jesse also covers the Luxor halving retrospective, Bitfufu's Ethiopia outage, the latest Q2 hashrate heatmap, and what an 8 to 50x capex gap between AI data centers and Bitcoin mines means for the future of US hashrate.TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro0:24 Bitdeer earnings: 143% inventory surge, 84% drop in machine sales2:12 Canaan Q1: $23M gross loss, joint mining projects4:14 Avalon hydro miner pricing & efficiency gap5:15 Luxor: two years after the halving5:50 Bitfufu Ethiopia outage & "all-in" cost transparency8:21 Situational Awareness LP: AI funds buying miners for power12:41 BlockSpace report: 8 to 50x capex gap between AI and BTC mining14:21 New West Data: stranded gas in Alberta15:18 Q2 2026 global hashrate heatmap17:09 Mara: 38% of BTC sold, 15% layoffs, AI pivot confirmed🛠 Sponsored by:SoloMining – Home & solo mining made easyCode: HASHRATEUPhttps://solomining.deAltair Technology – Buy Bitcoin Mining SolutionsCode: HASHRATEUPhttps://altairtech.io📩 HashrateUp Newsletterhttps://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/📲 HashrateUp Hardware DealsTelegram: https://t.me/hashrateup#BitcoinMining #BitcoinNews #AIDataCenters #HashrateUp #Mara #Bitdeer #Canaan #Bitfufu

🔗 Dr. Margot Paez:
X (Twitter): https://x.com/jyn_urso
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margotpaez/
BPI Profile: https://www.btcpolicy.org/authors/margot-paez

📄 PhD Thesis: https://github.com/dmrobotix/phd/blob/main/dissertation.pdf

In this episode of HashrateUp, Jesse sits down with Dr. Margot Paez, PhD researcher and fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, to dig into the first empirical study of Bitcoin mining load flexibility across North American facilities.

Dr. Paez collected hourly energy consumption data from 21 Bitcoin mining facilities and built a full network simulation model to study how miners respond to real-time price signals, curtailment incentives, and grid conditions. The conversation covers what the data actually shows about miner flexibility, why Texas facilities outperform the rest, what grid operators in other regions are getting wrong, and how the ongoing shift of public miners toward AI workloads threatens to permanently reduce one of the grid's most valuable flexible loads.

The episode also explores the parallels between Bitcoin mining energy FUD and the emerging AI narrative, why academic research on data centers keeps getting it wrong, and what policymakers on Capitol Hill actually need to understand about this industry.

0:00 Introduction & what a BPI fellow does
2:04 How BPI shaped Bitcoin policy in the US
4:42 How Margot got into Bitcoin from climate science
8:43 Why academics keep getting Bitcoin mining wrong
18:17 The PhD thesis: goals, data, and methodology
20:46 Load flexibility findings: Texas vs the rest
25:27 Why some miners are not flexible and what to do about it
27:21 Bitcoin vs AI: why grid flexibility doesn't transfer
37:45 AI pivot, hashrate decline, and what it means for the grid
42:05 Rapid fire: hardest data, biggest misconceptions, what miners should stop claiming

🛠 Sponsored by:

SoloMining – Home & solo mining made easy
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://solomining.de

Altair Technology – Buy Bitcoin Mining Solutions
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://altairtech.io

📲 HashrateUp Hardware Deals
Telegram: https://t.me/hashrateup

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