Bitcoin Mining Game Theory with Marty Bent, Thomas Pacchia & James McAvity - WBD747

Marty Bent is a Venture Partner at Ten31 and founder of the
Bitcoin-focused media company TFTC.io, Thomas Pacchia is a
Bitcoin entrepreneur and co-owner of the NY Bitcoin bar
Pubkey, and James McAvity is the founder and CEO of the
Bitcoin Mining company Cormint. In this interview, we
discuss Bitcoin’s potential future, its interaction with
financial institutions, the challenges and risks of the
Bitcoin mining industry, and why Texas is favourable for
Bitcoin.


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It is no surprise that a podcast with three eminent
Bitcoiners will cover a lot of ground, and yet, the
discussions on this show cover a myriad of fascinating
topics that are the subject of fervent debate within the
community. The initial debate focused on whether users will
continue to pay high fees, the operational constraints and
cash flow concerns of a growing network, and the issues
affecting the adoption of Lightning and Liquid.


We talked about the profitability and health of the mining
ecosystem, exploring the idea of miners cooperating to
reduce electricity consumption while maintaining the same
revenue. We also touched on the possibility of chip
manufacturers restricting supply and the potential
commodification of ASICs.


Our speakers provided their opinions on the future of
Bitcoin and its scalability. We explored the concept of
self-sovereignty with Bitcoin, the potential need for
multi-institution custody solutions, the importance of
maintaining the 21 million supply cap and ensuring mining
is sufficiently distributed.


We discussed the potential future of Bitcoin and its
interaction with financial institutions, speculating that
the institutions offering the best monetary utility, such
as fast settlement and low costs, will likely win the
battle for user trust. The conversation raised the prospect
that Bitcoin exchanges will need exposure to mining in
order to provide liquidity to their users.


The impact of the Chinese hashrate and the centralised
market for mining hardware and software on the mining
industry was covered. Our guests explained the challenges
and risks associated with entering the mining industry,
specifically, the effect of the upcoming Bitcoin halving,
volatile power prices and weather conditions upon Bitcoin
mining. We also discussed why Texas is viewed as a
favourable environment for the Bitcoin industry.


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Show notes:
https://www.whatbitcoindid.com/podcast/bitcoin-mining-game-theory


This episode’s sponsors:
Iris Energy - Bitcoin Mining. Done Sustainably
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