Daniel Roberts (Iris Energy) on Sustainable Bitcoin Mining (EP.278)

In this latest installment of the mining miniseries, Iris Energy cofounder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts joins us to talk through their approach to mining. In this episode:  How Dan came to work in mining Backgrounds of the Iris executive team Which thinkers influenced Dan in his Bitcoin journey Why Iris focuses on sustainable energy and on only entering energy markets where they will not drive prices up for households How Iris chooses geographies to operate How Iris found abundant underutilized power in British Columbia Why Iris’ entry to British Columbia actually drives down energy prices for regular households Why Bitcoin mining has better location agnosticism than aluminum smelting or hydrogen production How Bitcoin miners are more flexible loads than other datacenters How Iris is geographically diversified in Canada, Texas, and Australia, and why geographic diversification is so important How flexibility from Bitcoin mining replaces peaker plants burning fossil fuels Why the oversupply of power is an issue for many power markets Are Western miners being sufficiently responsible in finding low carbon energy sources How Dan thinks about political risk at the state level Can the world accommodate Bitcoin’s power consumption growth if the price goes up tenfold? What plateauing efficiency gains for ASICs means for Iris Why Iris doesn’t see itself as a pseudo Bitcoin ETF and does not seek to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet Sponsor notes: Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io