HashrateUp - A Bitcoin Mining Podcast

Jesse
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Technology

HashrateUp is a podcast that delves into Bitcoin mining and exciting projects, utilizing hashrate production to unlock new potentials in the broader energy industry. From details about innovative mining operations to exciting applications powered by classic energy resources, we’ll discuss the various ways the Bitcoin network is powered and its impact on the environment. Join us as we talk with industry experts, researchers, and thought leaders to understand how Bitcoin is shaping the future of power and investigate the energy challenges and opportunities Bitcoin and its ecosystem bring to the table. Whether you are an industry professional, thought leader, or…

  1. 1d ago

    They Could Have Built This Years Ago. Nobody Did.

    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

  2. Aug 25

    Old ASICs, $0.058 Power & a 50/50 Profit Split w/ Ben Smith

    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

  3. Aug 22

    What to Do With Old ASICs Nobody Will Buy ♻️

    ♻️ 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

  4. Aug 21

    Bitcoin's Back - Miners Are Quitting for AI Anyway [NEWS]

    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

  5. Aug 19

    The Firmware Every Miner Needs w/ Brandon

    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

  6. Aug 14

    Why BIP-110 Was Dead on Arrival w/ Chris

    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

  7. Aug 10

    Is the Big Rotation Back to Bitcoin Already Here? [NEWS]

    🛠 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/ Hash price bounced from the high 20s back to ~$32, Bitcoin difficulty is down year-over-year for only the second time ever, and the great AI pivot may be running into its first real wall. In this news roundup, I break down whether the AI trade is finally cracking — and whether capital is starting to rotate from AI equities back into Bitcoin. We cover the Stratum V2 milestone (Demand pool + Go Mining), the wave of miners fleeing to AI (TeraWolf's $19B Anthropic deal, Core Scientific's $14B AMD deal, MARA, Hive, CleanSpark), reverse stock splits to dodge delisting, BitDeer's US factory, and the first real grid pushback — New York's moratorium and Texas pausing its data center queue. The big question: if China chip progress and open-weight models like Kimi V3 undercut AI economics, what happens to the capital funding these 15–20 year leases? Timestamps: 0:00 Intro & hash price update ($32.74, difficulty +0.47%) 1:15 Bitcoin difficulty down YoY — 2nd time ever 2:30 Demand pool mines first Stratum V2 block 4:00 Sphere3D × BitDeer — 30MW co-mining deal 6:00 Miners defend listings: Cango, American Bitcoin, Canaan 7:30 Sponsor: Altair 8:10 Hive's Swedish AI lease + $600M note 9:20 TeraWolf's $19B, 20-year Anthropic deal 10:50 MARA's $600K/MW Matagorda land grab + Ohio gas plant 12:40 Helios first AI revenue — 133MW to CoreWeave 14:00 BitDeer breaks ground on Nevada factory (SEALMINER A4) 15:20 BitFuFu June report — production down 29.4% 16:40 CleanSpark's AI lease + Foundry BIP110 vote 17:20 Sponsor: Luxor 18:30 Grid pushback: NY moratorium, Braiins + Enel energy tool 20:00 Core Scientific exits Proto ($42M) — lands $14B AMD deal 22:00 The AI trade cracked: Nvidia/OpenAI financing, Kimi V3 24:00 BTC outflows, Russia/BitRiver fraud case 25:20 Cambridge report: power use +38%, 59.4% low-carbon 26:40 Texas pauses data center queue — how worried should AI be? 📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup 📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/ #BitcoinMining #AIPivot #DataCenter #HashPrice #StratumV2 #CoreWeave #Anthropic #GridPushback #BitcoinNews #HashrateUp

  8. Aug 6

    You're Securing Your Bitcoin Wrong w/ Max Hillebrand

    🔗 GUEST LINKS: Max Hillebrand — Sound Money Solutions: https://soundmoneysolutions.io/ Max on Nostr: https://njump.me/npub1klkk3vrzme455yh9rl2jshq7rc8dpegj3ndf82c3ks2sk40dxt7qulx3vt Personal site / archive: https://towardsliberty.com/ Mention HashrateUp when you reach out to Sound Money Solutions. 🛠 Sponsored by: Luxor, Mining software, firmware & hashrate tools https://luxor.tech/ Altair Technology, ASIC hardware, replacement parts & mining infrastructure Code: HASHRATEUP https://altairtech.io/aff/125/ You spend all your time and money maximizing mining profits, but what happens to those coins on the backend? In this episode, I sit down with Max Hillebrand, co-founder of Sound Money Solutions, to talk about Bitcoin self-custody and how to actually keep the coins you mine safe. The timing couldn't be sharper, with the recent Cold Card entropy and brute-forcing issues making the rounds, but the deeper point is bigger than any single wallet. We get into why most people never upgrade past their first setup, why no hardware wallet from 2017 is still secure, how holistic security ties your physical and digital life together, threat modeling, single-sig vs. multisig, inheritance planning, and why running your own full node is the real privacy minimum. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro & the Cold Card self-custody issue 2:09 The most common self-custody mistake 3:49 Why we stick with what we know (Ledger, Binance) 6:39 What Sound Money Solutions actually offers 9:42 Self-sovereignty & why custody feels daunting 13:12 Sponsor: Luxor 13:41 Holistic security: your physical life protects your Bitcoin 14:46 Threat modeling: what are you protecting, and from whom? 15:27 GrapheneOS, VPNs & password managers 17:10 Full nodes, hardware wallets & the Cold Card Q 18:12 Inheritance: making your setup work without you 21:35 The North Korean hacks, SIM swaps & Telegram attacks 23:13 Security vs. convenience: striking the balance 25:16 Why your family is a target too 27:53 Sponsor: Altair 28:26 Max's background & what qualifies him 32:05 First steps: the lowest-hanging fruit to fix 34:32 The minimal basic setup (single-sig + passphrase) 35:12 Is custody always bad? Max's nuanced take 40:09 How to get comfortable sending Bitcoin 41:47 Testing your backups before funding a wallet 44:19 Rapid fire: mistakes, wallets, multisig & privacy 47:32 Wrap-up & where to find Max 📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup 📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/ #Bitcoin #SelfCustody #BitcoinSecurity #ColdCard #HardwareWallet #BitcoinPrivacy #Multisig #GrapheneOS #Cypherpunk #HashrateUp

See All (166)

About

HashrateUp is a podcast that delves into Bitcoin mining and exciting projects, utilizing hashrate production to unlock new potentials in the broader energy industry. From details about innovative mining operations to exciting applications powered by classic energy resources, we’ll discuss the various ways the Bitcoin network is powered and its impact on the environment. Join us as we talk with industry experts, researchers, and thought leaders to understand how Bitcoin is shaping the future of power and investigate the energy challenges and opportunities Bitcoin and its ecosystem bring to the table. Whether you are an industry professional, thought leader, or…

Information

You Might Also Like