Some Bitcoin mining companies are turning away from cryptocurrencies and embracing artificial intelligence. NPR’s “The Indicator” podcast explains why.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A big change is happening in the world of cryptocurrency. Companies mining bitcoin are finding that their resources are better spent on artificial intelligence. Our colleagues from The Indicator Stephen Bisaha and Darian Woods explain it.
STEPHEN BISAHA, BYLINE: One of the Bitcoin mining companies we’re talking about is called Bitfarms, and the CEO is Ben Gagnon.
BEN GAGNON: We had four co-founders, two of them from Argentina, who were actually mining Bitcoin and Ether in a small Argentinian hotel.
BISAHA: I feel like the stereotypical image of people who have been mining Bitcoin for so long was, like, in a hotel room with a bunch of servers, all taped together. Is that how you started?
GAGNON: I think it started in a basement. But yes, it was in a hotel, that’s for sure.
DARIAN WOODS, BYLINE: Bitfarm has since grown from a basement to large data centers. The company has a dozen in North America.
GAGNON: Energy is the asset. Energy is where all the value is. And Bitcoin miners were exactly how we used energy and monetized it. But it was energy that was the fundamental value.
BISAHA: So what I’m hearing is: don’t call us a Bitcoin mining company. Don’t call us an AI company. Call us an energy company.
GAGNON: Yeah. Call us an energy and infrastructure company. What we are solving is the energy bottleneck. In the United States, it takes years to get access to energy, and so having that access to energy means you can start moving forward much faster with greater certainty.
WOODS: Now we should mention that Bitcoin and AI use enormous amounts of energy. This drives up electricity prices across the country and often leads to lower greenhouse gases. And we know that’s not good for the climate.
BISAHA: Yeah. Power companies are also looking to produce more electricity to meet all this demand. But for now, supply is limited.
WOODS: So if you’re a company with access to this energy and you had to choose whether to use it for Bitcoin or AI, it’s not difficult to choose AI. I mean, it’s cutting-edge technology that’s driving the stock market right now. This is how Nvidia became a $5 trillion company.
BISAHA: Yeah. Bitcoin mining, on the other hand, requires riding up and down the Bitcoin price roller coaster. Do this for years, and it can go from exciting to exhausting.
WOODS: So you can stay on the roller coaster, or…
GAGNON: You can move into a business that’s not volatile and predictable, that has higher revenue, higher margins, higher cash flow.
BISAHA: I imagine it’s much better for your blood pressure.
GAGNON: It certainly doesn’t hurt.
WOODS: But all this talk of an AI bubble could raise some investors’ blood pressure. Ben is always optimistic.
GAGNON: We all believe in Bitcoin. We all own Bitcoin. So this is not a decision that anyone took lightly.
BISAHA: Speaking to Ben as a believer in Bitcoin, and not Ben as the CEO of Bitfarms, I – or, I guess, both – what does it mean to you to be a believer in Bitcoin and say, well, we’re moving away from it?
GAGNON: You know, I don’t know if there’s a conflict there, right? For example, you may believe in Bitcoin, but it may also not be the right thing for you or the business. This does not mean that I am selling my Bitcoin. This does not mean that I no longer believe in Bitcoin. But that just means there’s a better opportunity for the business itself.
BISAHA: So, Darian, that represents a lot of optimism for the future of AI in technology. I mean, Ben Gagnon even dismissed concerns about the AI bubble by saying that there was an Internet bubble in the 90s, and yet we still have a huge web-based economy today.
WOODS: Yes, if I was looking for optimism, the dotcom bubble might be the last place I would look.
BISAHA: Stephen Bisaha.
WOODS: Darian Woods, NPR News.
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