“Bitcoin not crypto” – when gold mining meets renewable data centers

How do you make money from mining Bitcoin? After all, it isn’t like mining iron ore or gold, where the fruits of your labour can be put on a ship or turned into coins. However, I suspect many Livewire readers are familiar with the business model of data centre providers such as NextDC.

To understand the economics of Bitcoin mining, I spoke with David Bartholomew, the Non-Executive Chairman of NASDAQ-listed bitcoin miner Iris Energy. David explains that Bitcoin mining, like data centres, is a capacity game. That is, the more capacity you have, the more you can earn.

The annual prize pool for mining Bitcoin is substantial - over US$8 billion at the time of recording. A major variable, of course, is the price of Bitcoin, which has been rallying in 2023 after a major drawdown in 2022.

For the most recent month of June 2023, Iris Energy mined 428 BTC, making it the #4 largest NASDAQ-listed miner – and in the process generated US$11.7 million of revenue (vs. US$5.6 million of electricity costs).

In this short video, David explains the economics of Bitcoin mining, the levers that can improve profitability, the challenges and the attributes that set Iris Energy apart from other Bitcoin miners.