Latest / Simply Bitcoin / The 238 Day Bitcoin Consolidation is OVER!! | EP 1107
Transcript
- 0:00Yo, the wait is over. We've waited 238 days for this,
- 0:06but it's finally happened. I think Bitcoin has finally
- 0:09broken the consolidation of the last six months.
- 0:12We're sitting pretty at 72,606 dollar $6.
- 0:17Bitcoin has finally reclaimed the 72K region.
- 0:21Last time we were at these levels was back in March.
- 0:25But if history repeats, ladies and gentlemen, I think the next
- 0:2910 to to 18 months is going to be very, very, very special for
- 0:34Bitcoin guys. We have an incredible show lined
- 0:36up for you guys today. We have our special guest and of
- 0:39course my legendary Co host. Our special guest today is Frank
- 0:43Holmes. Frank Holmes is the executive
- 0:45chairman of Hive digital technologies.
- 0:47We're going to talk about that all stuff Bitcoin mining later
- 0:50on the show. And of course, my legendary Co
- 0:52host who's always optimistic optimist fields Frank.
- 0:56I mean as a Bitcoin miner, today is very special with finally
- 1:00these. Six months high.
- 1:01The Bulls were up. Oh.
- 1:09We've put it, we've put in the work, we've paid our dues, we've
- 1:12plugged in the minors, and finally I think we're getting
- 1:15rewarded for it. How does this feel?
- 1:17I'm so happy that you came on today's episode.
- 1:20Today's episode was the Breakout Day special.
- 1:23So how you doing, Frank? I feel blessed.
- 1:26I'm, I'm, I'm blessed to be with you guys.
- 1:28You all have great energy and it is an all time high and and I
- 1:32started this journey in 2017. Wow.
- 1:36I mean that's that we've come a long way.
- 1:38I mean, I think Opti pretty sure that's when we started.
- 1:40Yeah, that we were. We were, we were from that era.
- 1:43But just to kind of give you guys a perspective, I was
- 1:46looking at some data by a friend of ours, charts.
- 1:50I'm going to pull this up. Opti shared this with me this
- 1:52morning. I thought it was really
- 1:53interesting at this point four years ago, Bitcoin rocketed past
- 1:5913 K, boosted by a wave of extreme leverage that took it
- 2:04past 60 K This time we have ETFs with options that the trajectory
- 2:08may be different, but the rocket still looks ready to launch.
- 2:12Buckle up. And I think this is what a lot
- 2:14of us are feeling, by the way, it's charts.
- 2:16Anyway, click that chart so people can see it better.
- 2:19Sure. Here we go, there we go.
- 2:22And just to kind of give you guys, it gives you guys
- 2:24different perspectives on where Bitcoin was in different markets
- 2:28and also charts. BTC isn't the only one saying
- 2:31this. We have the real plan.
- 2:34C says, congratulations, you've survived 8 months of
- 2:37consolidation, your reward 150K to 300K within the next 10 to 18
- 2:44months. So I think a lot of people are
- 2:46feeling this anticipation for 2025, especially, you know, this
- 2:51election that's coming up next week or so, which should be
- 2:54interesting from a regulatory perspective for Bitcoin.
- 2:58It seems like all the stars and planets are aligning for this
- 3:01explosive 2025. Frank, what are you anticipating
- 3:05from the perspective of of the CEO of one of the largest
- 3:08Bitcoin mining companies in the world?
- 3:10How are you anticipating 2025? Are you taking every single day
- 3:14by day? I'm an inch by inch,
- 3:17everything's a cinch and and we're just very pragmatic of of
- 3:21how we built high. We function in nine time zones
- 3:26and we still come out as the most efficient miner.
- 3:28We have to translate in four different languages going to
- 3:31five for audit reasons, etcetera.
- 3:34We still come out as the most efficient miner.
- 3:37So I'm really proud of what the team has done.
- 3:39We hold a Bitcoin. We only source green energy,
- 3:43hydro and geothermal to miner Bitcoin.
- 3:46And I believe that over time those bitcoins will have an
- 3:50intrinsic greater value because they've never been into
- 3:54cyberspace and they've come from the original green energy.
- 3:59And that, to me, is like buying a Picasso or buying an Andy
- 4:02Warhol piece of art. I love that and and let's talk
- 4:07about that Frank, because I think the the if you, if you, if
- 4:12you consume certain types of media, I'll I'll frame it that
- 4:15way. They would like to make you they
- 4:17would like to make you believe that Bitcoin mining could
- 4:19potentially be, you know, hurtful to the environment.
- 4:23But it seems like you've built an entire company that is only
- 4:27using renewable energies or green energy to mindset Bitcoin.
- 4:31What can we do as a community to get that message out there?
- 4:34Because I'm seeing it from a Bitcoiners perspective.
- 4:37I would say Bitcoin allows the roll out of green renewable
- 4:42energy without the need for government subsidy.
- 4:44I would say it's good for the green energy industry, the
- 4:48renewable energy industry, again, you know, this industry,
- 4:53let's just say it wouldn't be able to survive on its own
- 4:56without government subsidy. Bitcoin miners come in and they
- 4:59say, you know what, we have another use case.
- 5:01We're providing another use case, right?
- 5:03So, Frank, could you talk to us a little bit about that?
- 5:06Well, it's, it's a great question, you know, in the, in
- 5:09the journey of me being the Co founder of launching hive.
- 5:13I'm a money manager and, and, and I'm known for the world of
- 5:16gold. So it was easy for me to see
- 5:18that the Bitcoiners really read from the Old Testament that gold
- 5:22bugs do that over time, governments will devalue the
- 5:26Fiat currency and it's just a matter of who does it faster
- 5:31and, and, and the damage it does to societies.
- 5:34But I, I in that journey, I tried to learn about Bitcoin
- 5:38and, and when I went to launch, I realized I couldn't launch an
- 5:41ETF. It was there was no way the SEC
- 5:45in 2017 be due to KYC AM L concerns was going to let it
- 5:50happen. I went to Canada, same thing,
- 5:54great concern. But when you're a Bitcoin miner,
- 5:57you're mining the virgin coin, you don't have a KYC and you
- 6:01don't have an AML problem. And I can turn around and mine
- 6:04that and put in my balance sheet, green and clean coins.
- 6:07So I said, OK, I'll put up the money to launch this
- 6:10immediately. Institutions came behind.
- 6:13Fidelity in the first two months, gave us $100 million.
- 6:17Other institutions end up giving us another 100.
- 6:20And Hive became the darling. That was first crypto money
- 6:24company to go public. Then we saw many companies go
- 6:27public. Since then, I think there's over
- 6:3020, but we've stayed very green and that's been hard.
- 6:33It's been a challenge to find big green energy in a
- 6:37jurisdiction that recognizes what we do.
- 6:41What we have done that's really significant is in 100 miles
- 6:46South of the Arctic Circle in Sweden.
- 6:48We have basically like a little ecosystem that the biggest sport
- 6:53there is hockey. They have three NHL players that
- 6:57have won Stanley Cups. There are local heroes.
- 7:00So we sponsor 12 kids teams and the arena.
- 7:04So we have funded the expansion of the arena, and we're working
- 7:09on a Bitcoin modular unit to hit the arena because we're only 100
- 7:14miles South of the Arctic Circle.
- 7:16So we have done that in funding gaming, the gaming industry
- 7:21that's up there. Facebook is only 30 miles away,
- 7:26and it's the largest data center in all of Europe, so it's near
- 7:31the university. It's just a perfect little
- 7:33environment. We've done that again in other
- 7:35places where we sponsor the culture that's in that
- 7:39community. And so we've really been
- 7:41thoughtful that they like to call sometimes the ESG strategy.
- 7:45Well, we've done that from day one.
- 7:47We are proud that we have the lowest G and A to mine Bitcoin.
- 7:52You know, we only mine with green and clean energy.
- 7:55And we've also repurposed in Montreal, we heat a building
- 8:00with a 40,000 square foot building that was in the
- 8:05graphite business. We repurposed that and now we
- 8:09heat a building 200,000 square feet with 170 workers making
- 8:14whirlpools. So that same molecule of energy
- 8:18that mines the Bitcoin then transfers and heats of fluid
- 8:22that goes over and basically radiators for those in the South
- 8:26don't use radiators that to heat their house, but in the north
- 8:30it's a must. And so that's that's what we do.
- 8:33And so we have shown that and we were the first to balance the
- 8:37grid. Now Ride gets a lot of great
- 8:39publicity in Texas for doing it, but we've been able to do it in
- 8:43Sweden for many years where we help the community and the
- 8:47utility company doesn't have to spend a lot of money building
- 8:50another dam. When everyone in the morning
- 8:52turns on their toasters and has a hot shower or comes home from
- 8:55work, we're able in seconds to go from literally 15 seconds
- 9:00from 30 megawatts to three. Well, everyone turns on their
- 9:04toasters and then crank it back up.
- 9:06And so we use that surplus energy, which generates hundreds
- 9:10of $1000 a month of revenue for that community and it also saves
- 9:16the utility company. So I'm very proud of what you
- 9:19the question you asked is that we've been that sort of good
- 9:23poster child for that. I love that that it's, it's it's
- 9:27it's really interesting and I think it's something unique to
- 9:29proof of work mining, right? Because it you have all this,
- 9:35you know, a lot of people don't understand this, right?
- 9:38One of the misconceptions that you hear is that Bitcoin mining
- 9:40uses a lot of energy. It's like what energy is Bitcoin
- 9:43mining using Bitcoin monetizes otherwise stranded energy
- 9:48sources. And that's really that's the big
- 9:51breakthrough. And you're going to start to see
- 9:53a lot of innovation based off that just one idea because you
- 9:57have all this energy all around the world, but it's isolated.
- 9:59It's far away from population centers.
- 10:02It's far away from, you know, just big energy hoggers and this
- 10:06this energy would otherwise go to waste.
- 10:08And all of a sudden Bitcoin miners come in and they say, you
- 10:10know what, we're going to turn that into sweet, sweet Satoshi's
- 10:13and they monetize that energy. And people have been coming up
- 10:17with very, very clever ways. Like Frank just brought up a
- 10:19couple of examples. But you hear these stories about
- 10:22these greenhouses being warmed by Bitcoin miners.
- 10:26Why not? Why wouldn't you do that?
- 10:28What's the downside? There is nothing.
- 10:30Molecule of energy. Exactly, exactly.
- 10:33Anyways, guys, it's going to be a great show and get opties
- 10:36thoughts on this. We're going to move on to the
- 10:38number segment. The number segment, we're going
- 10:40to talk about the oh, you guys love this.
- 10:43You're making fun of me when I brought it up yesterday, but I'm
- 10:44bringing it up again. We have Frank in the house, the
- 10:47Bitcoin Overton window and the guys, we've made so much
- 10:51progress on this. You know, of course, El Salvador
- 10:54making Bitcoin legal tender, the ETFs, you know, the, the
- 10:58legitimization of Bitcoin in the eyes of, of, of legacy finance.
- 11:02This year, it happened this year, of course, Michael
- 11:04Saylor's Bitcoin strategy. So many things have been
- 11:07happening and that's slowly been moving the Overton window, but
- 11:10it seems like we're all from the same class.
- 11:12The class of 2016, 2017, Boy, oh boy, were things different back
- 11:17then. We've made a lot of progress in
- 11:20in Bitcoin in the world of mining.
- 11:22And I just want to kind of recap that.
- 11:23So anyway, Opti, do you have some thoughts before we move on?
- 11:26Well, I really just want to give everyone in the chat a pat on
- 11:31the back, or rather pat yourselves on the back.
- 11:33It has been, you know, a long, long sideways action.
- 11:37I know everyone's getting testy out there on Twitter.
- 11:39It's like, when is this price going to do something?
- 11:42It's literally the Bitcoin meme. I was just like poking the
- 11:44Bitcoin or like, do something. When are you going to do
- 11:47something? And now we get a little pumped.
- 11:49I mean, Nico and I were kind of joking yesterday.
- 11:51It's like, man, I I think I'm dead inside because I don't feel
- 11:54anything. And now that Bitcoin starts
- 11:56pumping again, we're like, OK, we're back.
- 11:58This is why we're here. OK, this is fun again, It's
- 12:00going to get really fun. And really, I think
- 12:03realistically speaking, once we break out, I think the all time
- 12:06high in like March is was around like 73 six or something like
- 12:11that. So I'm kind of eyeing that once
- 12:13we break past that 74 K area, like what, you know, with
- 12:17significant volume, significant price push, we're in price
- 12:20discovery mode and we might just teleport up to 100K very
- 12:24quickly. So this is the best time to be a
- 12:27Bitcoiner. It's always the funnest when the
- 12:29price starts running. And I think this time around,
- 12:32considering all the things we've been talking about on the show
- 12:34all year and, and I kind of got a sneak peek of what Frank might
- 12:38tell us in the culture today. I think price discovery this
- 12:42time around, I, I don't think we're going to get a, you know,
- 12:452020 ish run. You know, we're not I, I think
- 12:48this time might be different. I think we're going to see some
- 12:51incredible price movements. As Samson Mao has been saying,
- 12:54we might be seeing Omega candles finally, we might be in Omega
- 12:57candle territory. It does seem like the Fiat
- 12:59apocalypse, you know, the Fiat system is crumbling.
- 13:02We know about the mainstream media.
- 13:04They're they're kind of capitulating against independent
- 13:07content creators and it just, it really does like Bitcoin is
- 13:12finally entering that hyper bitcoinization era.
- 13:16And I think the next four years in Bitcoin is going to be very
- 13:18incredible. It really reminds me of the meme
- 13:20of, you know, you, you overestimate what you can do in
- 13:24two years, but you underestimate what you can do in 10 years and
- 13:27just kind of, you know, collapsing that a little bit.
- 13:29I think even us Bitcoiners, we still have PTSD and I think
- 13:33we're underestimating what can happen in the next 4 years of
- 13:37this next, you know, seemingly next 4 year Bitcoin cycle.
- 13:41You know, I, I hate to be the guy here just because the price
- 13:43is pumping a little bit, but man are we entering super cycle
- 13:46territory. I don't know, I.
- 13:48Don't know, I'm just. I'm just given the hopium today,
- 13:51but yeah, man, I'm excited. It feels good.
- 13:52It feels good to be back. Nico, it's.
- 13:54Going to be a great show. All right, there's 1200 of you
- 13:56guys watching live. You guys are enjoying the show
- 13:58so far. Make sure to smash that like
- 13:59button. Of course consider subscribing
- 14:01to simply Bitcoin. It's going to be a great show.
- 14:03Ladies and gentlemen, strap in, sit back, relax, enjoy the ride.
- 14:05Anyways, before we get to, I want to give a shout out to our
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- 14:55lightning wallets ready first person to scan the QR code has
- 14:59won 500 Satoshi's. All right, everybody, let's get
- 15:01to the numbers we have. Let's talk about, let's check it
- 15:03out. All right, before we get to the
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- 15:45At the time of recording the Bitcoin price is $72,570.
- 15:50That's per dollar 1378 block height 867,952 Realize monetary
- 15:57inflation 1.26% market cap 1.44 trillion Bitcoin versus gold
- 16:02market cap 7.52% money supply 19,774,633 BTC percentage issued
- 16:1294.16 percent. We're just getting the party
- 16:16started. Anyways, like I mentioned in the
- 16:18intro today I want to talk about the Overton window.
- 16:20I know you guys were making fun of me yesterday when I brought
- 16:23it up, but Elon brought it up. That's why I brought it up
- 16:24yesterday. And then when I saw this, I'm
- 16:26like, I have to bring it up today, today again.
- 16:29So what are you going to talk about today during the numbers?
- 16:31We're going to talk about the Bitcoin Overton window and the
- 16:36person, the person who tweeted this said think about how far
- 16:38we've come in 15 years. Consider the Bitcoin Overton
- 16:41window continuing to shift towards hyper bitcoinization.
- 16:45The future is speculative for sure, but this is not an asset
- 16:48that you want to be short. As institutions purchase and
- 16:51hold for the long term, the BTC available to trade will shrink
- 16:55as the institutions put their holding into deep cold storage.
- 16:59Demand increasing meets shrinking supply equals
- 17:02parabolic price rise. Act according and here it it
- 17:07shows you know what what has happened really.
- 17:09So in the beginning, right. So the Overton window, for
- 17:12anyone who doesn't know, is the acceptable window of discourse
- 17:15and our jobs as as Bitcoin content creators, as Bitcoin
- 17:18entrepreneurs, as Bitcoin miners is of course, move that Overton
- 17:22window. So a lot of these concepts go
- 17:24from unthinkable to policy. If I would have told you that
- 17:28Bitcoin was going to be made legal tender in El Salvador, you
- 17:30would have laughed me out of the room.
- 17:31If I told you that the ETF was going to be approved, you would
- 17:34have laughed me out of the room, right?
- 17:35So this is what I'm talking about.
- 17:36If you would have told me that the former president of the
- 17:39United States, potentially future president of the United
- 17:41States would have gone on stage and told everybody that Bitcoin
- 17:44was going to be a potentially a few, a strategic reserve asset,
- 17:47you would have laughed me out of the room.
- 17:48So this is very important, right?
- 17:50And it's very important that this continues to shift in our
- 17:53favor like it has been. That's my two sats.
- 17:55And I'm going to kind of take it back a little bit and talk about
- 17:59the past because it wasn't always like this.
- 18:01I remember back in 20/16/2017 when I got into the industry,
- 18:06things were very, very different.
- 18:09Frank, you're going to appreciate this.
- 18:10I got in in the era of the S9. You remember the S9 legendary
- 18:14ASIC legendary machine. Things were very, very different
- 18:17back then. You could plug an S9 into your
- 18:20home outlet and it would work. So, you know, now you need kind
- 18:25of like, you know, dedicated infrastructure for mining.
- 18:28I mean, technically you could still do it at home.
- 18:30I just don't recommend it. So things have, obviously.
- 18:33Had two cent electricity. There you go.
- 18:35Yeah, so or you could just blow out your socket, which I've done
- 18:39many times. But yeah, it's, it's things have
- 18:43obviously changed. Bitcoin mining has obviously
- 18:46become a lot more efficient. It's scaled.
- 18:49It's become more worldwide. I think after the China ban,
- 18:52it's decentralized. You can make an argument for
- 18:54that. A lot of those miners went to
- 18:57Texas specifically. That was one of the narratives
- 18:59that everyone was freaking out about back in 2017, the 2017,
- 19:042017, 27/18/2018 era, which was the idea of mining
- 19:08centralization in China. Obviously that was debunked
- 19:12very, very quickly. I think you could have made the
- 19:14case that it cost us the 2021 bull run.
- 19:17You could make a case for that, but who knows.
- 19:20Anyways, Frank, I kind of want to look back in time, reminisce
- 19:23a little bit. Do you think we've made progress
- 19:25as the industry, as bitcoiners, as Bitcoin miners?
- 19:28Do you think we've come a long way?
- 19:31Absolutely. If you go back and look at the
- 19:34world of gold, gold stocks, and that's where I was originally
- 19:36known for and, and when the GLD first came out as an ETF for
- 19:43bullion, the regulatory world used to be so harsh on any gold
- 19:48fund manager. You're buying gold stocks,
- 19:50they're all scams, they're all bad, etcetera.
- 19:53But when the GLD came out, the tone changed.
- 19:56It wasn't that the industry is bad, It was what make sure
- 20:00you've got clean accounting, clean this, clean that.
- 20:04And, and I think that that's very significant for the Bitcoin
- 20:09miners with the, the the. Unbelievable success of the
- 20:14Bitcoin ETFs. As as you recall, I was trying
- 20:18to launch this Bitcoin ETF and I was fortunate to go, I think
- 20:22create hive. It's, it's how long has it
- 20:27taken? Well, during that journey, it's
- 20:30taken so many setbacks like China, It's so resilient.
- 20:34What people don't realize is there's 195 countries in the
- 20:38world, say 195 central banks, but there's over 18,000 nodes
- 20:44working 24/7, validating and supporting the ecosystem.
- 20:50So that system may get dented in one country like it was in
- 20:53China, and all of a sudden it moves and it gets adopts.
- 20:58And that's very much the biological models of of the sort
- 21:02of complex adaptive system. It's already there.
- 21:05And Bitcoin is part of one of the key case studies.
- 21:08It'll be written in 10 years from now how that complex
- 21:11adaptive system morphs and adopts.
- 21:14And you get great companies like Jeff Bezos.
- 21:17He started selling books. Look what he's become, and now
- 21:21his biggest cash flow is data centers.
- 21:24Well, if you're a Bitcoin miner, you're really in the data center
- 21:27business. If you go in the AI, you're in
- 21:29the data center business. He is more from selling books to
- 21:35now being a hyper scaler of of incredible scale.
- 21:39So I I think that that's a Bitcoin.
- 21:41No CEO, no board of directors has grown to one almost $1.5
- 21:46trillion asset class in in less than 15 years is incredible.
- 21:53100%, Frank, you said something really interesting earlier,
- 21:57which is you, you, you came from the gold world, you were known
- 22:01for that, you wrote. Do you think that played a role
- 22:04in you being able to identify the opportunity in Bitcoin early
- 22:09on? I think so, as Steve Jobs always
- 22:12said that you've got to have these different loves and
- 22:15different passions and then try to connect the dots.
- 22:18And can you connect the dots? And, and the other big part of
- 22:23that journey was recognizing in 2017 that the CEO of Fidelity
- 22:32with what almost $4 trillion in assets, she doesn't speak at
- 22:37investment conferences. She's speaking at consensus
- 22:40crypto event in New York City. That was a, to me was like, oh,
- 22:45wow, there's something big is happening.
- 22:48And, and seeing what was taking place there that people were
- 22:51spending all this amount of money to get a ticket.
- 22:54You wouldn't see that at a tech conference.
- 22:56You wouldn't see that at an ETF conference for the retail
- 22:59investor. But here you had institutional
- 23:02retail people spending $1000 a ticket to attend.
- 23:06So that was my first big wake up call that something else is
- 23:09happening over here. And I started delving into the
- 23:12research of demographics. And that's where I realized, you
- 23:16know, I've started also mining Ethereum.
- 23:19Well, you have 30 million kids that have gaming GPU chips and
- 23:24they go to bed and we're plugging into mine Ethereum.
- 23:26They generate A1 to two coins a year.
- 23:29I had a paper route. These kids are coders or gamers
- 23:33and all of a sudden they're making a couple $1000 a year
- 23:35off. And, and to see that they were,
- 23:40if they're good gamers, they were getting rewarded in digital
- 23:43money. Well, they're, they're much
- 23:45more, their heart and brain is In Sync with digital Bitcoin.
- 23:49It's, it's much more than my generation as a baby boomer.
- 23:54They're so upset about this. How could this take place?
- 23:57Because they're oblivious to what's happening over here where
- 24:01a kid 12 years old could be making up back in 2017 making
- 24:06$1000 a year and could open an account.
- 24:10He's told he can't open a bank account, but all of a sudden he
- 24:13could turn around and and convert his Ethereum through a
- 24:17wallet to be able to upgrade and buy some technology.
- 24:21That was a big wake up call for me when I looked at sheer
- 24:25numbers and I became, I just love the industry.
- 24:29I love everything it it represents in my research.
- 24:34What people didn't realize was that M pesa, you know what M
- 24:37pesa is? M.
- 24:39Pesa, Is that a Spanish word? M pesa is like the Bitcoin for
- 24:43mobile operators to allow you to bank the unbankables.
- 24:47So a telecom company in Kenya gets this technology and
- 24:51originally blockchain was created for the telecom
- 24:53industry. It was a time stamp mechanism
- 24:56for the telecom industry. And, and so now M PESA comes
- 25:00along and today in Kenya, it has 51 throughout this part of
- 25:05Africa, sorry, 51 million users. Well, they've got villages that
- 25:09people can't read and write, but they know enough math, but they
- 25:12couldn't get a bank account. And all of a sudden they're able
- 25:15to use their cell phones and it becomes the ability that's now
- 25:1910% of the GDP of some of these countries in in East Africa.
- 25:24So it comes on just before Bitcoin and then Bitcoin comes
- 25:29out as really a wealth asset, not money.
- 25:33And it's more centralized around the telecom, but it goes to show
- 25:37to bank the unbankables and Bitcoin was that way also.
- 25:41And so it starts to grow by by the technology sector and gamers
- 25:46all around the world. But you can see the adoption in
- 25:50very poor countries. So it's and Peso was much more
- 25:53inclusive. Bitcoin is much more inclusive.
- 25:56And you and I were at this conference last week in Plan B
- 26:01and talk about mind boggling numbers that in America we
- 26:07complain about the dollar and all the spending and every
- 26:10hundred days a trillion dollars of money printing, But the rest
- 26:14of the world want dollars. And last year was that for the
- 26:19weekend that Messi became the president, not Messi the soccer
- 26:24player, Miley Miley in Argentina.
- 26:28And that weekend, it was interesting because the
- 26:31ambassador for America was speaking and he said there's $25
- 26:34billion of U.S. dollars in the pillows and mattresses in
- 26:38Argentina. And that's what's keeping the
- 26:41underground economy is keeping the country alive because
- 26:44everyone wants U.S. dollars. I was a big number for me.
- 26:48I did had no idea how big it was.
- 26:51And Buenos Aires is beautiful. It's spectacular city.
- 26:54How does it function with this high inflation on the back of
- 26:57U.S. dollars? And then in that sort of, I'm
- 27:01trying to share with you, I know about Bitcoin at lunchtime.
- 27:02I still did not know about what's taking place in places
- 27:05like Argentina. And now we find about Tether
- 27:09with 300 million wallets, they said at the conference, 300
- 27:13million, the population basically of America.
- 27:16And it's all these countries that cannot open AUS bank
- 27:19account. Since 2002.
- 27:22In Argentina, it's illegal to have AUS bank account.
- 27:26Well, they've to stop this oppression, financial
- 27:29oppression. Tether has been the answer.
- 27:32So we have this digitalized growth of $120 billion of a an
- 27:38asset class, alternative asset class.
- 27:41It only supports in in a much more significant way the growth
- 27:46and potential Bitcoin. Of course, you know, it's, it's
- 27:50a, it's a, the way that I see it.
- 27:51Is it like specifically with because the original thesis was
- 27:55from the Bitcoin or the Bitcoin community was in developing
- 27:59countries, you're going to start to see the radical adoption of
- 28:03Bitcoin, but the free market kind of showed something else.
- 28:06It showed that in developing countries would people were
- 28:09really adopting on in a rapid scale was stable coins.
- 28:13And the reason for that is that they they needed something.
- 28:16First of all, I think the educational component to it.
- 28:19So if you're from, I'm originally from Venezuela.
- 28:22If if you're from Venezuela, you get $100 bill, it's like Frank,
- 28:26I know it's not the same, but it's like the equivalent to
- 28:28holding a gold bar, right? It's very, very valuable in
- 28:30those countries. So what what a lot of these
- 28:34alternative non sovereign alternatives provide is instead
- 28:40of you going to a bank bank and saying can I open a bank
- 28:43account? A lot of these people don't even
- 28:44have that possibility. They could just download an app
- 28:47and all of a sudden they have access to dollars.
- 28:50And then I believe that eventually, once you open that
- 28:54door, that eventually leads to Bitcoin.
- 28:56And the reason for that is it's simple.
- 28:58I think Bitcoin is a superior current.
- 28:59I mean, it obviously does that, right?
- 29:02It's obvious for anyone who's paying attention.
- 29:05So I think it's a kind of Trojan horse for people adopting non
- 29:11sovereign alternatives and then Bitcoin is the best non
- 29:14sovereign alternative. So it's like this one way Rd.
- 29:17but it's really, really fascinating what's happening and
- 29:20it obviously makes me really optimistic for a lot of these
- 29:22countries because they would they were there was no other
- 29:26capability or possibility for a lot of these individuals from
- 29:29those countries to interact with the global economy.
- 29:32They they were just shut off. You couldn't deal with them.
- 29:35Forget about PayPal, forget about the you not gonna happen.
- 29:40But with with stable coins and with Bitcoin, all of a sudden
- 29:44you can have a bank in your pocket and you can interact with
- 29:48someone across the planet. You don't even need to know
- 29:51their name, right? It's it's an absolute game
- 29:53changer. I think a lot of people are
- 29:54sleeping on it. Anyways, Opti, before we move on
- 29:56to the next segment, what are your thoughts on this brother?
- 29:58Yeah, Well, obviously I got to troll you a little bit because
- 30:01we they're doing the Overton window drinking game in the chat
- 30:04right now and we're doing the whole, the whole episode on the
- 30:07Overton Window. But just to that point, you
- 30:10know, I also got in Bitcoin in 2017 and as much as the last,
- 30:15you know, year or so of the sideways.
- 30:17Actually, I guess it's like 2 years now, right?
- 30:19It's been, you know, it's been a slow grind.
- 30:22And, and when you're just kind of zoomed in on the moment, you
- 30:24forget how far Bitcoin has gone throughout the 15 years of, of
- 30:28its existence. And I've been saying this for a
- 30:31long time on the show. And I know a lot of Bitcoiners
- 30:33in the chat that hang out with us are always like, OK, we don't
- 30:36need BlackRock, we don't need politicians.
- 30:38But it's become very obvious that ever since the BlackRock
- 30:41ETF came out, there is a sense of legitimacy coming out of the
- 30:45Bitcoin industry. Now Bitcoin is a political
- 30:48topic, You know, it's, it's been, or rather politics has
- 30:51been thrusted on our doorstep. And so now Bitcoin can't just be
- 30:55relegated to, you know, dark corners of the Internet.
- 30:57It has to be in everyone's portfolio.
- 31:01And it's becoming a legitimate conversation.
- 31:03And I think what we're seeing right now with the price is that
- 31:07once it really does do, it's it what we think it's his next leg
- 31:11up. Everyone's going to start to
- 31:13pile into Bitcoin. And now it's becoming, it's
- 31:15going to become the de facto investment, the, the de facto
- 31:18portion of people's port portfolios.
- 31:20And I just saw a interesting metric.
- 31:22And I know we're, you know, we're not the biggest fans of
- 31:24Coinbase here, but in March of the last all time high, when,
- 31:29when Bitcoin hit 72 K of what the last bull run one, I think
- 31:35the Coinbase downloads on its app was at like 24 or something
- 31:40as one of the top apps. And right now it's in like the
- 31:43400. It's almost like the 500th, you
- 31:45know, largest downloaded app right now.
- 31:47And so that just goes to show you that Bitcoin is about to
- 31:50break all time high. There's no retail FOMO coming in
- 31:53yet. This is all coming from what we
- 31:55would call, you know, the smart money, the institutional
- 31:57managers are finally dig dipping their toes in Bitcoin.
- 32:01So once you kind of Add all this stuff together, once the price
- 32:04does start running, we do get, you know, price discovery mode.
- 32:08We have the Microsoft's of the world dipping 1% into Bitcoin
- 32:13and then we get retail FOMO. The Overton window is, is
- 32:17crashing. It's exploding in real time on
- 32:20us. And again, as I was saying
- 32:22earlier and and shout out to Nolan, I was watching Nolan's
- 32:24show. He finally came back this
- 32:25morning and he's going to like rebrand his show because it's
- 32:28like the breakup with Fiat is over.
- 32:31You know, Bitcoin and I hate to do the Bitcoin is winning, but
- 32:34it is winning so hard right now that mainstream is capitulating
- 32:38on Bitcoin. And I think the net, like I
- 32:40said, the next four years plus is just going to be incredible
- 32:43in regards to the Bitcoin industry, where the industry is
- 32:46going to go. You know what that means for
- 32:48every one of you guys in the chat that has been holding
- 32:51Bitcoin for this long like it, I think the the Overton window is
- 32:55done and now Bitcoin is a legitimate thing in the world.
- 32:58And like I've been saying, if you fight Bitcoin, you know
- 33:02you're going to try to fight reality.
- 33:04And we know that that never works.
- 33:05And now we're entering into everyone accepting reality and
- 33:09what it means. And it means you need to get on
- 33:11the Bitcoin standard. Yeah, absolutely right, guys,
- 33:14We're almost at 2000 live viewers.
- 33:16If you guys are enjoying the show so far, smash that like
- 33:18button, consider subscribing. You're listening to Simply
- 33:21Bitcoin Live. We have Frank Holmes on the show
- 33:23today. He's currently the executive
- 33:25chair chairman of Hive Digital Technologies.
- 33:28And of course, I'm here with my legendary Co host Optimus
- 33:31Fields. Guys, stay tuned.
- 33:33We still have the news segment. We're going to talk to Frank
- 33:37about Microsoft potentially putting Bitcoin on their balance
- 33:40sheet. And of course, all this crazy
- 33:43mining news that has been happening that has been
- 33:45happening throughout the year. Of course, the Kingdom of Bhutan
- 33:48news, the news coming out of Paraguay, El Salvador mining
- 33:52Bitcoin, Russia legalizing cryptocurrency mining as well.
- 33:57So all this news want to get Frank's thoughts on all this.
- 34:00So guys, stay tuned. We'll be right back.
- 34:02We're going to hit the we'll be right back.
- 34:04All right, here we go. Special shout out to our sponsor
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- 36:00Not your keys, not your cheese. Anyways, I want to get Frank's
- 36:04thoughts on this. This was making quite a splash.
- 36:07Sailor also was nudging the CEO of Microsoft and basically said
- 36:13look to use sailors words not mine.
- 36:15If you want to make the next trillion dollars for Microsoft
- 36:18shareholders call me. And of course you know this
- 36:21happened on the 25th 4 days later Bitcoins on the verge of
- 36:24potentially making an all time high $72,816 currently at the
- 36:29time of recording. Anyways, I do want to read this,
- 36:32and I believe this came from the Microsoft press release.
- 36:36Anyway, it says MicroStrategy, which like Microsoft is a
- 36:38technology company, but unlike Microsoft holds Bitcoin on its
- 36:42balance sheet, has had its stock outperform Microsoft this year
- 36:46by 313%, despite doing only a fraction of the business that
- 36:50Microsoft has. And they're not alone.
- 36:53The institutional and corporate adoption of Bitcoin is becoming
- 36:56more commonplace. Microsoft's second largest
- 36:59shareholder, BlackRock, offers its clients a Bitcoin ETF.
- 37:04So I mean, Frank, when I saw this, I said, you know, that
- 37:08this might be the first domino to fall.
- 37:11What are your thoughts on this? Is was this as consequential as
- 37:15you know, as perhaps I'm perceiving it to be?
- 37:18Do you think this was inevitable?
- 37:20Is the opportunity? Is the door slowly closing?
- 37:22Is the opportunity almost gone? What are your thoughts?
- 37:26Well, I think it's a technical rule that you can't do in other
- 37:29countries if you're as a stakeholder.
- 37:32I have a small position in Microsoft, you can have that put
- 37:37on the proxy. So management and the board are
- 37:41I don't believe are sponsoring, you know, go, go buy Bitcoin.
- 37:46They're voting against it. But you have this right to have
- 37:49that put on the proxy, which that itself is a game changer
- 37:56from a, from a regulatory. I wouldn't, I wouldn't be
- 37:59surprised to see the regulators to come out and try to change
- 38:02that. You can't do that.
- 38:04So you can buy 100 shares of of many companies and call them up
- 38:09that they have to put that on their proxy.
- 38:12So it's a technical issue. And what what's your perspective
- 38:17on Sailor attempting to nudge the Microsoft?
- 38:20Season, he's brilliant, he's brilliant.
- 38:22What he's doing to to wake up the these giants and having it
- 38:27on the balance sheet, that's what he is and that's why Hive
- 38:30holds as much of his Bitcoin as possible and we have 2700 on our
- 38:35balance sheet. And could, could we talk a
- 38:37little bit about that because that what you just said, some
- 38:41other mining companies have not followed that the in terms of
- 38:44the Bitcoin accumulation strategy, I'm not, I don't have,
- 38:49I'm not the CEO of a public company, but I am the CEO of a
- 38:52small Bitcoin media company. We have a very similar strategy,
- 38:55maybe not to those volumes, but stack as much Bitcoin as you
- 38:59can. It is literally a cheat code.
- 39:02So could we talk a little bit about that?
- 39:03Right. Let's talk about the hive
- 39:05Bitcoin accumulation strategy, why it is a cheat code?
- 39:08What are the benefits of it? And again, other mining
- 39:12companies are not necessarily doing this.
- 39:14They're selling the Bitcoin as soon as they mine it.
- 39:17Yeah, I think Irene Energy is probably the biggest in selling
- 39:21everything that they produce and I think is a Terra Wolf is the
- 39:26other one is that have over a billion dollar market caps.
- 39:31They sell all their coins, Cleanspark that used to sell all
- 39:34their coins and now they're accumulating, which is sort of a
- 39:39positive dimension. I think that it's just if you
- 39:43believe, I know from the world of gold, the gold companies in
- 39:47the 90s that hold as much gold as possible that they produced
- 39:53traded at a higher valuation. They treated a higher value
- 39:56sharing of book value. They had more price discovery
- 40:01with retail investors. Institutions are only attracted
- 40:05if you have a lot of minerals buying and trading your your
- 40:08particular stock and and to particular Rob McEwen.
- 40:13In the building of Gold Corp used to have brown paper bag
- 40:16lunches in downtown Toronto for the shareholders and, and go
- 40:20underground and sit at a open area and discuss the world of
- 40:24gold. And this following was so great.
- 40:28So I, I think from that end when we went public, we made a
- 40:31decision that we were going to huddle at one time and we were
- 40:356% of the Ethereum network. We were holding a lot of
- 40:38Ethereum. We sold it all as soon as they
- 40:41went to proof of stake. We're out of there.
- 40:43The only mechanism that I believe is proof of work and and
- 40:48it's another reason why I'm such a big believer of Bitcoin and
- 40:51and it's your uniqueness. 100% and and it's, I'm so glad that
- 40:57you that you said that right, which you're a fan of proof of
- 40:59work. And again, I think Bitcoin is
- 41:01the only really the only serious proof of work, proof of work
- 41:06digital asset standing. Now, this wasn't the case when
- 41:09we got in 2017. I mean, we all lived through the
- 41:12fork wars, right? You know, a lot of uncertainty
- 41:14in that era, a lot of other, let's say, more popular proof of
- 41:18war coins. Clearly, you know, seven years
- 41:21later or so roughly, you know, clearly there's a winner in from
- 41:26my perspective. And I think that that winner is
- 41:27Bitcoin. That wasn't the case back in
- 41:292017. It was, let's just say it was a
- 41:32lot more uncertain and you know, a lot of things have changed.
- 41:36Frank, as a business person, when you're mining Ethereum, it
- 41:40was always much more popular than Bitcoin mining.
- 41:42Bitcoin mining will have these waves of big profit margin.
- 41:47Everyone jumps into mining, your margins have taken away and
- 41:51Ethereum was always at the last having.
- 41:55We always made money and and we had that, that big huddle.
- 42:00I always looked at Ethereum when it was used.
- 42:03The mechanism proof of work was like silver is to gold.
- 42:07Bitcoin goes up 10%, Ethereum's going up 15%, Bitcoin falls 10%,
- 42:12Ethereum was going to fall 15%. Very similar psychology of
- 42:17trading between the two of them. But since they've gone to proof
- 42:21of stake, they've destroyed their ecosystem.
- 42:24All the minerals are gone and and that different between
- 42:27Bitcoin and Ethereum is huge. So I'm such a big believer in
- 42:34the proof of work mechanism. Absolutely, Opti, I want to get
- 42:38your take before we move on to the culture and focus on Hive
- 42:42digital technology. Yeah.
- 42:43Well, really, I kind of want to just tee up frankly with another
- 42:46question and then kind of pick his brain with his expertise.
- 42:49And it's more on the lines of how long do you think it's going
- 42:52to take other big public companies to follow the
- 42:55MicroStrategy strategy? I know these conversations are
- 42:57happening. I, I, you know, you don't need
- 42:59to expose too much information if there is any on the back end.
- 43:03But what's your thoughts on the time frame of other people
- 43:06adding Bitcoin to their balance sheet, Some of the biggest
- 43:08companies in the world? Do you think it's going to
- 43:10happen quicker than we think or they're going to, you know,
- 43:13obviously go through the paces and then make sure that they're
- 43:15fiduciary responsibility and shareholders are happy before
- 43:18they do all of that? I think if you're a technology
- 43:21company or you're a consumer products company where you're
- 43:24taking just a direct use of for credit cards etcetera.
- 43:28Like you see out of Europe, a lot of the high end luxury
- 43:32brands are now accepting Bitcoin to sell you your LVMH purse.
- 43:38And, and I think that they're the ones that should be holding
- 43:42that Bitcoin rather than immediately converting to sell
- 43:45it to get cash, get EUR or U.S. dollars.
- 43:49I think that this particular technology companies, which are,
- 43:53are in, in that ecosystem of, but it will take time because
- 44:00the banking industry and the banking lobbyists, they're very
- 44:03strong and they're anti the envy of Tether is huge.
- 44:08It's going to think that Tether makes more money than the $10
- 44:12trillion asset manager BlackRock.
- 44:16That's that's mind boggling. They're doing over 50 million
- 44:20revenue per employee. NVIDIA is 3.5 million.
- 44:25Apple was around 2.2 million. I'm really proud to say, you
- 44:29know, Hive is over 5 million. But when we look at gold royalty
- 44:35companies and that was always the original strategy to make
- 44:38Hive more like the gold royalty companies, the premier company
- 44:42would be Franco Nevada. It's 30 million in revenue per
- 44:45employee, but Tether is 50 million.
- 44:49I mean, that's just mind boggling.
- 44:51And and so coming back on the idea of holding Bitcoin that if
- 44:57you're, if you're a corporation that taking in U.S. dollars for
- 45:00selling a product, if, if you have free cash flow, I think
- 45:05your free cash flow should be totally your Bitcoin.
- 45:07If you don't have free cash flow, I understand you got to
- 45:09pay salaries and electrical bills and everything else, But
- 45:13as a smart business person, you want to be generating free cash
- 45:17flow. And out of that free cash flow,
- 45:19a portion should be dedicated to owning Bitcoin.
- 45:24And if you're a gold miner, you should be owning some of that
- 45:27product you have if you have that free cash flow. 100
- 45:31percent, 100%. All right, ladies and gentlemen,
- 45:35there's 2000 of you guys watching live.
- 45:37If you guys are enjoying the show, smash the like button,
- 45:39consider subscribing. You're listening to simply
- 45:41Bitcoin. Of course, our special guest
- 45:42today, Frank Holmes, Executive Chairman, Hive Digital
- 45:46Technologies. We're going to talk about Hive
- 45:48right now during the culture segment, so stay tuned.
- 45:50We'll be right back. Before we jump into the
- 46:04discussion, I do want to give a shout out to our sponsor.
- 46:06Of course, I'm talking about the orange pull apps.
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- 46:13the app. The orange pull app is the
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- 46:32today, scan the QR code or check the link in the video
- 46:35description. All right, everybody, let's talk
- 46:37all things Hive, Opti, all yours.
- 46:40Yeah, actually, actually, we're definitely going to get to Hive.
- 46:44But Frank was saying something, teasing something for us in the
- 46:47beginning. You did mention Bitcoin is going
- 46:50to be likened to Andy Warhart paintings.
- 46:53And before we set the stage for everything Hive, you did drop a
- 46:57bomb on us earlier and why you think the journey to Bitcoin to
- 47:01$1 million is an inevitable. And I, I think our audience
- 47:04would love that. And then we'll cover everything
- 47:06Hive. So Frank, why do you think
- 47:08Bitcoin is going to $1 million? What is your thesis here?
- 47:13I'm a quad analyst and when you look at mathematical rules and
- 47:16laws, like everyone knows Moore's Law, there's also
- 47:20Metcalf's Law and and Metcalf's law of adoption.
- 47:23So when you create scarcity and you have people value and
- 47:28believing in a piece of art or and I'll give you a classic
- 47:33example. This happened in diamonds.
- 47:35Then the prices grow exponentially it and So what new
- 47:40technologies come along for the Bitcoin ecosystem has been
- 47:45ordinals and and ordinals figured a way to basically put
- 47:50on a Satoshi a piece of art and and what you found is that if
- 47:58you own special numbers and one Bitcoin is worth 100 million
- 48:04Satoshi's. So what is a Satoshi worth .0007
- 48:10cents? What is a Bitcoin worth when
- 48:14Satoshi's hit 1 penny just one penny there were bitcoins worth
- 48:19$1,000,000. Well, that's so far away.
- 48:22Well we have some of those special Satoshi's and we were
- 48:28offered for a handful of a quarter, $1,000,000 because
- 48:33those numbers were at an important halving event like the
- 48:38last halving or they could be at any epic event like the day that
- 48:43Bitcoin makes or the hour makes an all time high.
- 48:47Those Bitcoins and those Satoshi's within there have a
- 48:52special valuation that's put on people that want to send art.
- 48:58So classic is I have a nine year old daughter and I would like to
- 49:03have a painting of her when she turned 1 and then 2.
- 49:08So I would want a satoshi on her birthday every year attached and
- 49:14I'll pay $10.00 for that satoshi.
- 49:17Not a penny $10.00 for someone to go get it.
- 49:20Well, what does that mean? Has that ever happened before?
- 49:25Absolutely. Look at Mao paintings by Warhol.
- 49:29He came out every year for simplicity.
- 49:32Say 1000 prints, $1000, purple, next year pink Mao, next year
- 49:38green Mao. Those paintings went to $50,000.
- 49:42The original piece went to a quarter million and now
- 49:47everyone's anti China and all of a sudden the value of those have
- 49:51gone down. But Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth,
- 49:54because she passed away, her paydays went to all time highs.
- 49:58It's recognizing that and this happened in the world of
- 50:01diamonds. When diamonds first came out,
- 50:04only 3% of Americans believe in diamonds would be a tangible
- 50:08gift for commitment intangible called love.
- 50:12Those diamonds were worth $10 a carat.
- 50:15They went to 10,000 a carat and now 80% of men and women are
- 50:20especially women expect you 2 guys to give them a diamond
- 50:25because you said you want to marry them.
- 50:28If you don't give them a diamond, well you're they don't
- 50:31believe you. The beers did it again in Japan
- 50:34in the 60s and all of a sudden from 3% went up to 80% of
- 50:40Japanese women. Expect a diamond for commitment
- 50:45of something tangible and intangible.
- 50:48Once you recognize that, then those special sat numbers have
- 50:54this uniqueness of love. They are attached to love,
- 50:58they're attached to a photograph and love is unlimited.
- 51:03So I, I just think that people will come up to say they want
- 51:08something green. I see, I see some of that going
- 51:10back. She's always don't believe that.
- 51:12But NVIDIA said that they want to deal with us because we are
- 51:18green. When we launched the first, our
- 51:21own ASIC chip with Intel, they approached us because we were
- 51:26only green. So if you're talking about
- 51:29adoption and more and more people buying in, well, what
- 51:33happens when an organization like NVIDIA says they're going
- 51:36to start owning Bitcoin, but they're only going to have green
- 51:40Bitcoin because that's what they believe in.
- 51:42And it's recognizing that Bitcoin capped at 21 million
- 51:47coins, 94% have been mined, creates the perfect opportunity,
- 51:54like a storm, for Bitcoin to trade much higher.
- 51:58Interesting. The a couple thing I, I want to
- 52:01double back to the Steve Jobs quote that you mentioned right
- 52:05about connecting the dots. Very interesting story because
- 52:09it, it allows you, it's like real world example.
- 52:12And then you're seeing that same pattern play out in Bitcoin like
- 52:16you did with gold. And you say, oh, I've seen this
- 52:17before and then you're starting to see the same thing as it
- 52:20relates to the art stuff. So interesting, and I do want to
- 52:25give a shout out. We have over 2000 live viewers
- 52:27right now and we're about to dive into everything Hive.
- 52:31So I'm going to hand it off to Opti.
- 52:32I'm going to share the screen. Yeah, Yeah.
- 52:34OK. All right, Frank.
- 52:36So let's talk everything hive here.
- 52:38Of course we have some stats here for everyone and you, you
- 52:41can jump off off after this first public miner, first public
- 52:45miner with an AI strategy you're diversifying into high-powered
- 52:48computing like you mentioned NVIDIA preferred partner.
- 52:52So for those that don't know out there in our your audience, you
- 52:55know, what is HIVE, what is your goals and, and maybe even tease
- 52:59like where do you think Hive will be in the next couple of
- 53:02years and, and what your road map is?
- 53:06Our road map is in. After we expand on a year from
- 53:09now, we'll be 2% of the global network in production and and we
- 53:15think that other opportunities are coming to us that we could
- 53:17be 3 or 4%. But right now what we control is
- 53:21the journey to having 2% of the global network and continuing to
- 53:25hold as much Bitcoin as possible on our HPC strategy.
- 53:30We think that's a big in dollar business on its own.
- 53:33If they give you a classic rate now you're making around $0.12
- 53:37an hour on Bitcoin mining. That's all.
- 53:40It's $0.12 an hour on each of these best performing chips.
- 53:44On our NVIDIA chips and our AI business, we're making a dollar
- 53:49an hour. Wow.
- 53:51So we see that as a huge growth opportunity for our uniqueness
- 53:57and because we were the the biggest public miner mining
- 54:00Ethereum, we have GPU experience.
- 54:03So when you when you drive a Porsche, that's like driving a
- 54:07Jeep that's a GPU, different technical skills, etcetera.
- 54:12ASIC chips are like Ford or Bronco trucks and and so it
- 54:17requires more technical experience managing GPU chips
- 54:22and we have that. So today we're throwing off
- 54:25about $10 million of free cash flow from repurposing our
- 54:29Ethereum, from reminding Ethereum as we repurpose going
- 54:33into the AI business. And we think that in a year from
- 54:36now, it'll be 50 million is where our plans are.
- 54:40But what Bitcoin miners have to recognize is that it's much more
- 54:44complex than some of these other companies that use it to to get
- 54:48their stock. It's a stock promotion.
- 54:50For me, it's very difficult because you're building a brain.
- 54:54People will pay you more per hour if you have certain cables
- 54:59because they know for coding the value of the cables between the
- 55:03NVIDIA chips. So we get a super Micro server
- 55:07which has some CPU chips on it. We load up our NVIDIA chips and
- 55:12the cables that hook it all up are valuable that they're worth
- 55:16$0.10 an hour more. So all this has been learning
- 55:19experience for me in the past year.
- 55:22But what we see is that when you want to get build a data Center
- 55:25for Bitcoin mining, you have to think it's $1,000,000 a MW.
- 55:31When you're going to go into HPC for AI, it's $10 million a MW
- 55:37just to build the building. Now you got to buy the
- 55:41equipment, but that revenue per hour is much greater.
- 55:46So Hyde wants to participate in the Super tidal wave of the
- 55:50adoption globally of digital money and digital wealth, such
- 55:55as Bitcoin and also AI and using AI to help us be better miners
- 56:01and how we use energy. Like right now we've been able
- 56:04to go and mine some of these as people like to call them the
- 56:08shit coins and we we were too big, but we can immediately
- 56:12convert into Bitcoin that's more profitable.
- 56:16So in any time we see where someone else has got a new coin
- 56:20that's proof of work, we could come in to mine that because of
- 56:24margins, the returns are higher. We use AI to help us to navigate
- 56:29through all those coins, but in seconds they are convert to
- 56:33Bitcoin because that's all we want to own on our balance.
- 56:38Gotcha. Interesting.
- 56:39So and I want to, I want to tell you, I want to ask you something
- 56:42Frank. So the let's talk about the
- 56:46relationship between AI and Bitcoin.
- 56:48Bitcoin is like the one of the only Internet native currencies.
- 56:53And if AI scales to a point where it's artificial
- 56:57intelligence and it wants to use an Internet native currency,
- 57:00obviously Bitcoin becomes one of the best choices for it.
- 57:07Absolutely. It's just, it's part of that
- 57:10Metcalf's law that adoption takes place.
- 57:12So Microsoft starts to adopt then what we're seeing.
- 57:16And remember, Eric Buchanus was speaking at the conference, Plan
- 57:20B in Lugano, and you had a wonderful presentation of what
- 57:25happens when Vanguard comes in. It's just a matter of time when
- 57:28Vanguard all of a sudden comes in and they have 3% of their
- 57:33fund flows are registered investment advisors.
- 57:36Well, there's 45,000 registered investment advisors through
- 57:39America, and they're very significant in the ETF
- 57:43ecosystem. And they've been very
- 57:46significant in buying these other Bitcoin ETFs.
- 57:49When Vanguard turns on that juice, they're what's almost,
- 57:53they're just under BlackRock in size.
- 57:56So there'll be these tipping, these inflection points where
- 57:59things go exponentially and then they'll go sideways and then
- 58:02they'll go exponentially in that adoption process.
- 58:07Gotcha, gotcha. Opti, we have some more
- 58:09questions lined up, don't we? Yeah, I got some good stuff over
- 58:12here. So I, I also, you know, we were
- 58:14talking about your road map and I know this is maybe I, I'd hope
- 58:18I'm not leaking anything here, but we have, you were telling us
- 58:21about building 100 MW hydro facility in Paraguay and
- 58:24targeting 12 EXA hashes in 2025. That's incredible.
- 58:28So you want to talk about maybe your choice of why you went to
- 58:31Paraguay and then explain a little bit of that, what
- 58:34facility you're building out there?
- 58:36Well, two things happen in the world, or maybe three things
- 58:38about energy. One, Putin invades Ukraine
- 58:42immediately. Energy prices around the world
- 58:44go up 1 penny. There's no invasion here.
- 58:47Just all of a sudden that fear and stress shows up.
- 58:50Canada comes up with announcements that they have to
- 58:54have a way to review all data centers.
- 58:56It doesn't matter if it's HPC, Sweden puts up 100% tax on the
- 59:01energy because they're all fearful of of what happened
- 59:05there. So it's recognizing that these
- 59:08events have this rippling effect around the world.
- 59:12What's really positive this year is AWS buys uranium nuclear
- 59:19energy. They spend 650 million for 950
- 59:24megawatts. Well, that's a game changer.
- 59:26All of a sudden it's renewable energy and all the all the anti
- 59:31nuclear people are quiet because AWS is all of a sudden saying
- 59:36we've done all the work on this and we're seeing new nuclear
- 59:41rules coming out for these micro nuclear centers.
- 59:46So I think that these events take place that create this sort
- 59:49of quantum leap of adoption for energy and, and Paraguay comes
- 59:55along and they have green energy.
- 59:59And I think that was disappointing that they put a a
- 1:00:01tax or tariff on on Bitcoin miners because of the negative
- 1:00:06data from what you find out when you go there is that New York
- 1:00:09banks tell the Paraguayan banks that if they have any Bitcoin
- 1:00:13mining clients, they will shut them off of international
- 1:00:17currency movement. That that's what you see is the
- 1:00:20is the overreach of the banking lobbying group of doing
- 1:00:24everything to try to stifle and hurt the industry.
- 1:00:28But nevertheless, we said where can we get green energy
- 1:00:32expansion of 100 megawatts in Sweden, not with, not with.
- 1:00:36Their attitude towards just all data centers in Canada is the
- 1:00:39same way. It's hard to get this stable
- 1:00:42green energy. A wind and solar are not as
- 1:00:45stable. You end up having to use natural
- 1:00:47gas if there's no sunshine and there's no wind or massive
- 1:00:52batteries. So they became the alternative.
- 1:00:55What I found in my journey was they've been selling energy to
- 1:00:59these other countries and there's no pay.
- 1:01:02Argentina owed them for two years and out of they owe them
- 1:01:05200 million, they just gave them 100 million.
- 1:01:08Well, Bitcoin is a savior. Bitcoin gives them foreign
- 1:01:12dollars every month. And what are we seeing?
- 1:01:16What some of these rogue countries want to get in Bitcoin
- 1:01:18money because they want U.S. dollars.
- 1:01:22That's Venezuela. That is Russia doing anything to
- 1:01:26get access to Bitcoin, to get access to U.S. dollars, that
- 1:01:31mechanism. But what does it do for the
- 1:01:33government of Paraguay? They don't have to sell their
- 1:01:36energy for one penny and not get paid.
- 1:01:38All of a sudden we become the ability to help the government
- 1:01:42run their budgets, their energy company.
- 1:01:45So I'm thrilled about being sort of that white knight within
- 1:01:48these countries. I love that, I love it.
- 1:01:51And again, I think it, it's Bitcoin that enables this,
- 1:01:54right, Frank? Like it's your expertise.
- 1:01:57You go in there, you use proof of work, you use Bitcoin, the
- 1:02:00benefits of Bitcoin to come to these countries.
- 1:02:02And, and honestly, like, if we're really like you're
- 1:02:06essentially providing an alternative to an IMF loan.
- 1:02:09I mean, like if, if, if like it is an alternative.
- 1:02:12This is an alternative funding mechanism for a lot of these
- 1:02:15countries, a lot of these governments, and that's
- 1:02:18extremely exciting because it gives countries alternative
- 1:02:21choices. And I think that's a good thing.
- 1:02:22It's a good thing for the world. My humble opinion, I might be
- 1:02:25wrong here, but that's my take. So do I agree?
- 1:02:29Opti, any more questions? Yeah, well, I think we remiss if
- 1:02:34we didn't talk about hives huddling strategy.
- 1:02:36You guys are holding over 2600 Bitcoin and now we're entering
- 1:02:41into what looks like the next leg up in the bull run.
- 1:02:44So let's just drop some bullish takes.
- 1:02:46Of course you guys are huddling your Bitcoin and you know where
- 1:02:49where do you think we're going right now?
- 1:02:51And, and what do you think is, you know from a mining
- 1:02:54perspective what this bull runs gonna mean, you know, going from
- 1:02:58the end of 2024 into 2025? I think we have to deal with
- 1:03:03what happens if Trump doesn't win.
- 1:03:05That reality will that you'll get a big correction.
- 1:03:08What would happen if, if they make Ginsler, he's wants to be
- 1:03:15the secretary treasurer, If he does that, what will that do to
- 1:03:20the dollar? How will he weaponize the IRS?
- 1:03:24All these things are are are questions that people ask
- 1:03:27themselves that that would be the big correction that you
- 1:03:31would take place. If Trump wins, I think it
- 1:03:35quickly accelerates to $100,000 in, in the adoption and the
- 1:03:41comfort that that this is a unique, it's such a unique asset
- 1:03:47to protect the humanity. It's to protect freedom of
- 1:03:51rights. It, it really is so significant
- 1:03:55when you travel around the world and you start to realize how
- 1:03:59hard it is to move money. What what the, you saw when we
- 1:04:03were in Switzerland, what the bank wants to charge.
- 1:04:07It's a minimum 5%, it's a 5% Commission.
- 1:04:10You want a, a 500 Swiss franc. Swiss franc was a part of the
- 1:04:14dollar before Covic and now it's bringing A120 premium.
- 1:04:18And and if you and some of these ATMs that if you want to get a
- 1:04:22cash out, they wanted a 13% Commission spread plus the 5%, I
- 1:04:29mean, it's outrageous. So how do you move money between
- 1:04:33countries that you are as a citizen have to leave or you
- 1:04:36move to another place? I think that Bitcoin is that
- 1:04:39solution and I think that's more inclusive and I think it's much
- 1:04:45more protective of financial human rights.
- 1:04:47A. 100% yeah. It empowers the individual the
- 1:04:51likes of which has never been seen before in human history,
- 1:04:54protects them from the devastating effects of inflation
- 1:04:56100%. And you know, Dennis Porter gave
- 1:04:59a great presentation at the conference that the Bill of
- 1:05:03Rights and the Constitution of America is rules based.
- 1:05:07And that's what makes it so powerful.
- 1:05:09And if you think about the Swiss, the cantons have
- 1:05:12tremendous power and they have a very strong, just like in
- 1:05:16America, the the 50 states have tremendous powers.
- 1:05:20And so he was going on with this rules based constitution and
- 1:05:24Bitcoin is rules based and, and both are there to protect your
- 1:05:29rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, how you
- 1:05:33want to spend your money, where you want to spend your money.
- 1:05:36And I thought it was a very profound presentation that
- 1:05:40Dennis Porter and I don't know when they're going to allow
- 1:05:42people to be able to watch the video presentations, but he was
- 1:05:46and, and Eric Picanos did exceptionally informative and
- 1:05:51timely presentations. Yeah, absolutely.
- 1:05:54Dennis is a is a good friend and he's done incredible work
- 1:05:58specifically on the state level, you know, going to individual
- 1:06:01States and getting the right to mind and the right to self
- 1:06:04custody in law, which depending it's Frank, you brought up a
- 1:06:08really good point. Let's see how this election ends
- 1:06:10up. Like we know how the Biden
- 1:06:12administration and the Harris administration feel about the
- 1:06:15industry. Look at the last 3 1/2 years.
- 1:06:17And of course, we know what Trump promised the industry, of
- 1:06:22course, at the Bitcoin conference and you know, all
- 1:06:24the, all the dinners and, and fundraising events that he's had
- 1:06:26as well. So I think it is going to be
- 1:06:28very, very impactful the the results of this upcoming
- 1:06:32election. And I think it's, it's, it's,
- 1:06:35there's ramifications for it. And I think that if it goes the
- 1:06:38Kamala route, this is where the state level regulation comes
- 1:06:42into play. And this is where Dennis's work
- 1:06:45goes a really, really long way. And he's put in a tremendous
- 1:06:48amount of effort and energy into it.
- 1:06:50So definitely shout out to Dennis.
- 1:06:51But I do want to give a shout out to our guest, of course, the
- 1:06:55chairman of of of HIVE. And Co founder.
- 1:07:01Digital Hive. Digital Technologies.
- 1:07:03Hive Digital Technologies executive chairman and Co
- 1:07:06founder Frank Holmes. Frank Holmes, thank you so much
- 1:07:08for joining us. Wait, wait, wait.
- 1:07:09Nico, let's, let's, let's let. Yeah, we'll forgive them.
- 1:07:12We'll give them the final. We'll give them the final one.
- 1:07:14I was going to say, come on. Frank, do you have he wants to
- 1:07:18show the T Rex. There we go.
- 1:07:22Frank, do you have any final thoughts for the audience today?
- 1:07:26Yeah, the most important thing is really to have a positive
- 1:07:30mindset is for a growth mindset. There's lots of great research
- 1:07:35that came from a leading Stanford professor and MIT came
- 1:07:38up with this research that you see opportunities better you you
- 1:07:42can connect the dots better. As Steve Jobs said, if you have
- 1:07:46a really negative, you'll miss opportunities and and it's not
- 1:07:51good for your health, it's not good for your energy.
- 1:07:54You 2 guys have phenomenal positive energy.
- 1:07:57I. Appreciate it.
- 1:07:59Well, Frank, thank you so much for joining us today.
- 1:08:01Guys. Go check out HIVE.
- 1:08:02The ticker is HIVE. It's publicly traded on the
- 1:08:06NASDAQ. That's what we have, a gold
- 1:08:08buzz. It's a gold B.
- 1:08:10You can't miss it B. You guys have some of the best
- 1:08:13merch in the game. I definitely have a couple hive
- 1:08:15hats at home for. Sure.
- 1:08:16And and Nico and Nico and Nico, we're inching as we speak closer
- 1:08:21to 73 K So we didn't break all time high on the show, but it
- 1:08:25looks like we're inching closer to 73 K Love to see it.
- 1:08:29Awesome, So the So the Satoshi's for this show by the end of 3
- 1:08:33o'clock today. Texas time 4:00 New York makes a
- 1:08:36new hive. These will be more valuable.
- 1:08:38There you go all right guys, if you guys enjoyed the show, you
- 1:08:42know to do smash the like button consider subscribing if you feel
- 1:08:45like we provided you valuable. We'll be back tomorrow for a
- 1:08:47brand new episode of simply Bitcoin live.
- 1:08:48Until then, I'm your host Nico, our guest for today, Frank
- 1:08:51Holmes and of course, my legendary Co host Optimus
- 1:08:53Fields. Love you all.
- 1:08:54We'll see you guys tomorrow. Peace out.
- 1:08:57Brought to you by bitcoinwell.com, a Bitcoin only
- 1:09:00platform on a mission to enable financial independence.