Make Bitcoin Mining Great Again | Bitcoin 2026

Super excited for this panel. Uh just for uh quick background means Colin Harper. I'm the editor-inchief of Blockspace Media. We cover Bitcoin mining. So very familiar with these gentlemen and the things they do. Also because it we cover Bitcoin mining, we've had to cover AI as well. We'll get into that uh during this conversation. We also just do uh other general Bitcoin news. But really excited for this panel because I think the name itself uh might belly how well Bitcoin mining is actually doing in the US and elsewhere despite all these AI pivots. Uh and so if you're wondering make Bitcoin mining great again, there is a lot of hype around AI. It's going to shake things up, but there's still guys like this uh deploying hash rates. So before we hop into the conversation, I'd love some quick background on y'all your titles, what you do, and your company. So Rafa Hafa, we'll start with you. >> Yeah. Half a Zaguri, CEO and founder of Electron. Electron is a private Bitcoin miner, probably one of the largest miners out there. Um, still 100% focus on Bitcoin mining. One of the last men standing, I think, you know, as time mining is very bad business, by the way. Nobody should do mining. I wish everybody leaves. Just joking. We'll talk more about that. >> Hey everybody, it's Matt Prusac here. I'm the president of American Bitcoin. Uh, we launched the company about a year ago at at this conference basically. Uh since then we've gone public under the ticker ABTC. We have over 7,000 Bitcoin uh 90,000 machines. Uh Eric Trump is the co-founder of the company. So making things great again is what we do. Uh and yeah, excited to be here. Hi, my name is Kent Hallebertton, CEO and co-founder of SAS Mining and we're providing the on-ramp to acquire Bitcoin through mining uh through a tech layer that we've developed and we operate data centers on four different continents now uh Africa, Norway, uh US and Paraguay. And we do this with an aligned incentive model. So our competition is more exchanges than other uh miners. So re focusing on the topic of the panel again, make Bitcoin mining great again. Uh you know, during this whole AI pivot, there's been a lot of uh talk and hype around some of these big public miners transitioning, changing some of their business models over to serve other forms of compute, but y'all are staying within Bitcoin mining, staying laser focused on that. Can you speak to the decision that y'all's companies made in terms of just staying focused on this one thing rather than chasing the shiny new thing? Uh ha we'll start with you and move down. >> How much time we have? So I I would say one thing I think that uh public mining companies they're doing what's right for their shareholders. You know at the end of the day they want to maximize stock price and unfortunately in a very fiat world right public stocks they're measured on a quarter byquarter ma basis. Um I think they didn't do a good job on you know telling their shareholders that Bitcoin mining is longer term. It's a separate conversation. But in the short term, you know, going to AIHPC is the way that they secure large revenue contracts and you know, the market is paying a move on that and you know, it's good that they're pivoting for us because we're private. If you just think about the simplest way, think about the unit economic of AS6, right? Get a latest generation AS6 and S21 and S23 and even at 67 cents power, you're still mining very profitably, right? right? You're mining at like low 30,000 rough that bitcoin prices which you're acquiring at much better price than you are. So the question is why aren't m more miners doing that? And the answer the first part I answered the second part is because it requires a lot of capital right and I think the capital structure that was in place for a lot of these miners was not the ideal one. Uh if you go back to the last cycle when not this one but the last one and you know this better than anybody most of the miners didn't go down because hash price at that time was down they went under because the of high leverage that they have right and at the end of the day they couldn't sustain their balance sheets so having low low cost of capital if you have low cost of capital it does make you I think you can still mine very very very efficiently right uh and unfortunately again a lot of the miners out there the public ones to get cheap cost of capital what they had to do is issue more stock dilute their shareholders right so our choice has been to be to try to be extremely lean uh which is another huge difference right you look at our company uh rough numbers you look at our SGNA as percentage of revenue we're talking about numbers that are south of 4% uh most of the public miners out there they are you know if they're very very good they're going to be close to 10 some of them are 25% %. So 25% of their revenue is going out in SGNA, right? Uh if you're very very lean, what happens is that you know again as hash price comes down the first ones in the cost curve are the ones are going to be kicked out, right? And get kicked out, kicked out, kicked out. Our goal should be at the left side of that cost curve. So that by the time it gets through us, everybody else is going to be wiped out. And there's this beautiful thing in Bitcoin, which is the adjustment of difficulty, right? which would mean that you know as they get pushed out network hash rate will stabilize and we'll be able to gather much more um you know it's kind of like us earning more market share because people are exiting at the end of the day and I think we are seeing maybe for the first time a bare market in hash rate right we have some initial evidence if you look from October when we peaked to now so we peaked at 1.275 275 zeta hashes and you know gradually has been coming down from from that level. Um, and I think the ones that stick around and, you know, can sustain because they have low cost, they have good balance sheets, right? They're going to survive and thrive. And uh, like everything in Bitcoin, we've seen this film, this movie before, right? Where the the patients are the ones that actually collect the prizes at the end of the day. >> It's uh, I think it's quite poetic. You're talking about how this created an opportunity for a private minor. I I actually think this also created an opportunity for a public minor. Uh if you think about the category of Bitcoin mining, we are securing a1 to2 trillion dollar asset that 40 to 50 million Americans own. Uh and having our competitors leave, I mean it someone has to do it, right? And I think someone in the public markets has to keep doing it as well. I think you can do it in a disciplined way. You can do it in a way that makes money, gross margin, etc. Uh, and for the everyday American who wants exposure to that story, to that uh that security of the network, the idea of accumulating Bitcoin for less than spot, um, to me it's a no-brainer. I mean, that that's something that the, you know, the everyday American wants access to. And so, as our a peer group, uh, in the public miners really started to buy into the AI narrative. I think perhaps that has been rewarded by their shareholders, but I think that left an entire class of, uh, the everyday American investors who really wanted uh, a Bitcoin miner, right? And that's still something that the market needs and we're happy to play that role and and take on that leadership position among the public miners. >> Ken, >> yeah, I I hear you guys talk and it's amazing. All three of us have a different approach to this, but the the theme running through it all is adaptation, right? Uh to these and for us, we're pioneering the Bitcoin mining as a service. We're a service provider. Uh and that model is different because we find the opportunities for our clients, but it's ultimately our clients desire to acquire Bitcoin that's driving our growth and demand. And so rather than being a traditional hosting provider, we allow clients to own the hardware directly. So you don't need to have this layer in between like maybe a typical investor trying to go through equity. They're acquiring their Bitcoin directly and it's going directly to their wallet. So it's serving a completely different market but at the same time it's allowing us to aggregate capital and form it in a different way. And I think that this adaptation right now is basically what we see the division of labor for a supply chain would naturally occur as things get more competitive. So I'm actually quite bullish on this division of labor concept and it's where we've placed our bet. So you all in some ways referred to this idea that this actually uh the AI boom and some of your competitors leaving to chase that opens up some opportunities. It kind of creates a vacuum and I'm really happy Rafa that you talked about the hash rate bare market because this is something I've been really keeping track of. We have been chopping and actually kind of slipping in terms of hash rate. So kind of a two-part question here. as we start seeing more of the largest miners in the world like the public miners in the US move towards AI some of their hash rate comes offline two questions number one do you expect to see much less hash rate growth than we've seen historically in terms of multiples each year and another question what does this mean for hash rate distribution around the globe you know the US really took up the mantle as the premier hash rate capital following the China mining ban depending on the quarter anywhere from 30 to 40% it's probably housed in the US maybe as much as 50% %. What does the AI pivot mean for changing that and what does it mean for Bitcoin's hash rate growth in the future? Matt, we'll start with you, move to Kent, and then finish up with you, Hafa. >> Yeah, I think both both parts of that are interesting. I, you know, thinking to a bit about the ge geographic distribution. I know we've got a very international panel here as well. There still are mining opportunities in the United States, but I mean, even we've expanded across North America. Uh, we just did a somewhat of a a large purchase in Alberta, Canada. So we've we've seen equal to everyone else that there could be opportunities outside just the United States. Um you know it's it's been interesting for us as as a player I think trying to navigate this as you said so many of our peer group is leaving towards the AI um world and and what that means for difficulty. I think as as someone who continues to buy machines that puts us in a good position our vendor our vendors are quite keen to do deals as are we right as long as it's the right structure. So, you know, after after years of of situations where maybe the the mining manufacturers had the upper hand, uh we've created an opportunity for us that not only do we want to put hash rate online still, but we're able to do it in a maybe a more risk adjusted or creative fashion and and really save uh save the dollars and it go a bit further. So, you know, a bare market for hash rate is is interesting. Um and then I'll I'll turn it over to my peers here. But the other thing is I don't think a lot of the major miners have shut off their mining yet. Some of them may not. They may do green field AI uh data centers, but you know, at some point they're going to need to cut the cord. They're going to need to flip over some of those sites to uh to AI, and we may further see difficulty adjustments that are to our favor as remaining miners. >> Yeah, I I see it as a wonderful opportunity. I mean, if you look at a lot of the downstream impacts of the folks that have been hashing and providing the hash rate, we have mining centralization issues that have occurred. And largely in my opinion that's because they've been after Bitcoin as a stepping stone to get more dollars, right? They haven't been aligned with necessarily the network. And what I see is by people coming in now that are providing hash rate, they really have to be here with the belief that Bitcoin and the price of Bitcoin or is going to go up in the future, right? And that by definition is more Bitcoin aligned and is, I think, going to be a healthier hasher for the network. So that's one part. The other part is you know with the AI pressure and demand you know a lot of that AI pressure is not happening in more developing nations and so as a result the power prices in the US are more likely to go up than other developing nations which leads opportunity for the more entrepreneurial uh miners to go discover lowcost electricity in other regions of the world. So I think this is healthy uh for the decentraliz decentralization of the network as well. Yeah, let me start with the the geographic question first and I'll talk about hash rates. So in terms of geography, the US market still probably one of the best places to mine in the world, right? You have rule of law, little bit less than you had in the past and I'll talk a little bit about that. Uh you have a ample availability of energy, right? And the beautiful thing is that you have the states competing and they're going to continue to compete for for assets and energy in the long term, right? Um, I joked because last year we had of course a lot of machines being imported in the into the US and the whole tariff situation blew up, right? And we had machines that you know were about to get in. We literally had to freight airplanes to put machines in, get into the US, paid a lot of money for that, right? And then it I started to question personally if you know the the rule of law the stable government that we fought that we had because we we avoided places like I'll go to the other extreme maybe like Ethiopia and other countries because you don't know what's going to happen to your machines right but then we were in a situation that I was looking at the US and like well it's probably not as predictable as we thought and as a Brazilian everybody kept asking me for long time why don't we mine in Brazil why don't we mine in Brazil let's do something in Brazil And I always said listen, I know Brazil way too well. And because of that, I don't think I will m I'll m ever mine there. And because of one of these, I think good coinc coincidences of life, right? As we were doing that, we had machines. Then a partner came to us said, well, since you guys cannot get these machines in the US because these were machines that came from China. There's a project in Brazil. Why don't you start mining there? We started learning about the country in Brazil. Um funny I went to have conversation with energy companies in Brazil and every situation I sat down they kept telling me oh in Brazil we have a lot of curtain we have a lot of curtainment and I'm thinking about taxes like oh you know we already have a lot of citian taxes I don't want to be here when there's curtainment then it's like no no you're not understanding the curtailment here is on the generation part we have to shut down the generation because the grid can take the power so we have to curtail the power generation it's like oh that containment actually like I can mine there for free Right. So I think the point there are other places in the in the world Brazil I think it's one example but there are other places in the world where there are going to be opportunities to continue to mine and we always had this thesis that Bitcoin mining will seek the cheapest uh energy around the globe. Right now to your second question, your first question. We we are I truly believe we are going to be in a in a bare market of uh if we stay here, right? Big if if Bitcoin price stays where it is, hash price stays where it is, right? Uh I think we are going to be seeing network hash rate gradually decline and it's going to be super interesting to see what happens when we get to the having uh because probably around 40 we estimate between 40 and 50% of the network will not be profitable at that point and we may actually see a huge decrease in network hash rate if nothing changes right now. The beautiful thing about Bitcoin, we all, you know, we continue to be mining Bitcoin. We continue to stay in Bitcoin because most of my team came from Bitcoin. We're Bitcoiners, right? We came on this because we believe in the asset. So, every time we go back to our models and we put in our assumptions in Bitcoin price, right? This is still one of the best investments that you could make out there. The only thing Bitcoin mining will not beat as a benchmark is Bitcoin in my mind. That that one is super hard. And I tell that to my investor. after everybody beating Bitcoin, I think it's it's pretty much impossible. >> So, Hapa, you mentioned that there will be opportunities obviously outside the US uh US still which should not be discounted. It's a great place to do business, but Ken, you also did mention that there is this risk that energy prices will get bit up in the US and that might crowd out some miners or investors who are looking to park capital there. So, I'm just curious as you all think about expanding hash rate and you think about future opportunities, what are you looking for in the US and elsewhere in terms of expanding looking for sites to deploy more hash rate? Kent, we'll start with you and then Hafa and then Matt. Basically, just where are the opportunities going to be in the future? Where are the the new meccas of mining, so to speak? Yeah, I think there's a few hot spots around the planet, but I think it's important to point out that because we're not an infrastructure provider. We're sort of the the layer in between where we go curate and find the right data center operations. A big part of it is the operator themselves and the trust that we can um develop with them. Right. But as far as our business model is concerned, you know, we try to diversify across geographies because right now I don't see that any place is risk-free from a jurisdiction standpoint. Exactly like Rafa was saying, right? Things do come up even in the US or maybe even at a state level. So being diversified, I think is a sane and safe approach. And where I see hotspots is places that have long-term viable excess power. Uh so actually I think Brazil is interesting. I think Venezuela is interesting. Uh Paraguay, a lot of people know about the excess electricity there. I think Ethiopia is interesting. Potentially even Bhutan, they still seem like they have excess power. But I think having a seat at the table at these jurisdictions is great for the long term. The problem is that you can't just have a seat passively at the table there. The politics and the education of the governments there. Um it's fickle. Um and there's risk. And so if you're going to play in that game, you really need to be careful about who you partner with and who you work with at the local level. the rule of law is lower in in a lot of developing nations and as a result who you work with becomes much more important. You know, one interesting thing that I think we will start to see it certainly but we're kind of starting to see is that there's almost like a bifurcation in terms of because not all energy assets are the same, right? So the high quality energy assets the one that have access to water redundancy closure urban areas know we're not as Bitcoin miners are not going to compete for the those are going to be AI HBC size as they should right and they're going to trade at a premium now that's a fraction of the total energy availability right the stranded energy the sites are lower quality the sites that don't have redundancy right the sites are in remote areas those sites they are going to try to sell to AIHPC we've seen this they're trying to sell to AIHPC they go there, they do the diligence, the deals fall apart, right? I think we're going to go through that cycle and then those sites are going to start trading again at the same price or even at a discount of what they were trading before, right? And I think that will create an opportunity. We're probably, you know, 6 months to a year away to that. uh because you know you have to go through the cycle but eventually I think that would be in the US particularly a great opportunity to to scout out some some of these sites that you know went to market like three four times didn't sell to AI HBC there still for us we don't care even if the uptime is 95% right then we adjust on the machine the kind of machines the kind of infrastructure that we put there the flexibility goes all back to the same thing the flexibility that we have as bitcoin miners no other industry has right and that won't change. >> I agree with that completely. I think at American Bitcoin, we're in a somewhat unique position because of our strategic partnership with hot 8. So there are opportunities where sites may not be fit for purpose for AI yet or AHPC yet. Uh there's redundancy you want with fiber, power, etc. that that takes time to get there. the these are opportunities where Bitcoin mining make sense in the near might may make some sense in the near term where we come in as a somewhat of a stop gap even at scale in a way that others are unable or unwilling to do. So there there's a wedge there as well. But I think echoing the points both of my colleagues here have made, you just have to get more creative, right? You have to go slightly further a field or you have to find, you know, kind of the needle in the haststack. I mean, there's certainly out there. It's a big planet. There's a lot of electrons. Uh but yeah, the the easy the easy sites are largely picked clean, but miners are scrappy by nature. So, I'm pretty confident we'll continue to find uh plenty of power. >> Welcome to predict. The world is a market. Everything is a market. Every headline moves the line. Every moment is your market. Call the moves. Bet on your instinct, your prediction, your edge. Dual bits. Predict where everything is a market. >> So gentlemen, I think we have time for maybe two more questions. I want to get this one in for sure, though. One of the biggest disruptions to the Bitcoin mining market outside of hash rate and this is all kind of uh obviously tied together because there has to be demand for hash rate for there to be demand for AS6. Uh but one of the biggest disruptions has been to the ASIC market. Dynamics are shifting pretty rapidly. Um the OEMs don't have nearly as much bargaining power with their clients because one of their largest buyers, the public miners, a lot of them are freezing their their purchases. And Matt, you mentioned that at this point um those OEMs are really trying to keep these relationships close with the miners that are still around. So Matt, we'll start with you and then move down to Kent and then finish with you. What impacts has the AI boom had on the ASIC market dynamics and what are you seeing in terms of how those dynamics have changed in this moment of time that we're in? >> Yeah, I would I would first say that you started to see demand ease off. I think that started last summer. the the the big headline exahash buys that were were pretty common on a quarterly basis for years really began to ease off as folks double down on the AI side of the business. Um you know that then moved upstream into the the major manufacturers wondering well who's going to buy all this equipment. Um you know that's a trend that I I you think we've now seen a softening in in that market. You know American Bitcoin has been willing to step up and and continue to engage with with our vendors. We've got long-term relationships with these folks. They want us to succeed. We want them to succeed. It's a symbiotic relationship. Um, so deals will continue to get done and and machines will continue to come online, but uh, yeah, I think um, the the era of the the marquee, you know, 50s a hash, you know, in five month or whatever purchase, uh, paid up in cash, uh, it's those days are probably over. But, you know, I think part part of our industry is is the adaptability and the resilience to to make it work. And you know in in years past and cycles past uh AS6 AS6 manufacturers have been caught out before. Um you know they they have a long memory. They remember who's been there for them. Uh we remember who supported us in times of need as well. And uh you know it's it's it's a great industry where we all want to succeed together and I think we'll continue to do so. >> Yeah. I you know operating in kind of a different area of the supply chain. I it's been interesting to see this pivot from AI. It's actually put a lot of used equipment on the market that's still a very high quality and that's very much depressed prices for new equipment coming in and it's left the manufacturers scrambling to a large degree and there's innovation then that comes out of that and some of the innovation that we see is more partnerships to kind of come upstream into the supply chain at least within the vertical that I operate within so that they can provide mining rigs on site with hardware uh with infrastructure and then you know kind of a pseudo financing to help make it easier for companies like ours to then resell that equipment uh to the end user. So there is adaptation and recognition from the manufacturers right now that things are challenging and that they need to figure out other ways to move product and they're they're trying to do what they can to do that. And I anticipate that if conditions continue as is that there's likely going to be a reduction in manufacturing capacity because why overupply the market with AS6. Um so let's see maybe there's some consolidation maybe there's some opportunity for some disruption there within the manufacturing market I certainly hope so but at the end of the day that part of the market is also adapting is what I see >> yeah market is definitely changing so let me tell you something we are very data oriented very analytical at electron right and about probably a year year and a half ago so who is our president and I we were debating Okay, so we're looking at secondary prices of machines, right? And these machines are pricing dollar per terahash. So we're looking historically and we were debating, you know, what really drives the prices at the end of the day. Is it hash network hash rate? Is it hash price, right? Is it Bitcoin price? What really determines the price? And we ran all kinds of correlation. Can you imagine? Everything. There's one thing that drives prices. Bitmain. That's all. So Bitmain sets the price. the whole curve sets up or down, right? And they could do that because they were pretty much a monopoly and there was ample demand for machines. You know, there's more than ample demand for machines, right? Uh I remember competing with public miners to try to get machines and you know, people are just killing each other trying to get them and then you don't get the machines, right? The machines get delivered later. So, the industry is changing to what it should be. I think the service quality is improving a ton. Uh I think Bitmain has been very good to adapt through through all of that. Price of course came down. I think that's the first thing that we that we would see. So prices in dollar per terash for newer generation machines haven't been this low maybe forever. Um and I think it's natural and it's a good thing for the industry because you know they were saying it's going to drive more competition. It's going to drive other players to come in as well. Uh and for us as miners, you know, it's it's another thing that I think the a lot of the people that are exiting the mining space right now are not realizing that this is an opportunity to get the very efficient new fleet at conditions that we've never seen before. And then when we go to the next having same thing, they're going to start driving now all the inefficient machines and those that stay around with the efficient fleet are the one it's our thesis that those are the ones that actually going to drive survive and thrive. >> All right, so we've got minute 40 seconds quick lightning round question and in retrospect the answer to this will probably be obvious but I want to ask it. What's the biggest headwind right now for Bitcoin miners? We'll start with you Hafa and move down. I think it's the same one that has always been uh it's capital uh and that's why you know we're very thankful to have a very good capital partner behind us that they're also true bitcoiners tther is our main backer they're true bitcoiners they believe on this in the same way that we do and that gives us access I think through you know through to a very having a very lean and very well ststructured balance sheet at the end of the day >> I think it's it's sentiment I think sentiment tends to follow price in in Bitcoin historically And as Bitcoin continues to meander up towards the uh the price we know it's worth, I think you're going to see the sentiment towards mining once again come back into vogue, uh we're very patient, but boy, it'd be nice if that happens sooner rather than later. >> Yeah, I'm going to go actually with Rafa here and say it's capital as well. I mean what one thing that's been really unique during this bare market for us is to see that there is smart mining capital out there and we are seeing that some of the client base that we have is deploying in bulk right now during bare market because there's been a classic trope of you you buy during the bare market when the numbers look the worst and you you reap the rewards later. And so although capital is hard to come by right now, it's also the time that we see the smartest players actually deploying That's great. I thought you'all all were going to say uh profitability and hash price. So, that was nice. Uh mixed bag there. Gentlemen, thank you so much. This was a great conversation. Best of luck with y'all's endeavors throughout the rest of the year and into the future. And let's give it up for our panelists. Y >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Every year this community comes together to celebrate, to debate, to build what comes next. And every year the stage gets bigger. Sound money center stage. So, where do you go to celebrate the next chapter in Bitcoin history? You come home. Nashville, July 2027.