Mustafa Yilham, VP of global business development at Bixin, joins the show. Bixin is an early Asia-based Bitcoin miner; they operate a popular wallet app, and they run a Bitcoin-denominated quant fund of funds. We cover prevailing myths around industrial Bitcoin mining and the reality of sourcing energy at competitive prices for mining. In this episode: 

• The story behind Bixin's Bitcoin-denominated quant fund
• How Bixin's fund of fund employs a Bitcoin benchmark
• Why Bixin as a firm is not market neutral and does not hedge their mining operation
• Whether miners have a procyclical or countercyclical effect on the price of Bitcoin
• Whether or not miners are fundamentally long Bitcoin
• The key considerations for finding a good source of electricity for mining
• Why Central Asia, Russia, and North America are promising locations for mining
• Why Mustafa expects more hashpower to end up in North America in the near term
• The factors leading Mustafa to expect less hashrate concentration in China in the future
• Whether the CBECI mining map is a reliable guide to where mining is located
• Miner attitudes to Iran and OFAC
• Current electricity prices required to competitively mine
• What sold out hardware means for the price of Bitcoin
• Was the hashrate drop earlier this year was due to the seasonal migration of hashpower in China?
• Bixin's approach to seasonal electricity costs
• Whether the withdrawal issues at Okex and Huobi prevented miners from selling and 'caused' the recent Bitcoin rally
• Mustafa's take on the "China controls Bitcoin" narrative
• Why Bitcoin mining is getting progressively more decentralized
• Why Bitcoin miners are positively disposed towards Bitcoin
• Whether Bixin plans to support Taproot
• Mustafa's view on who controls Bitcoin
• Mustafa's experiences in Turkey and why it is so popular there
• Why central asian and post-Soviet households like gold

Sponsor notes: 

Withum is a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory and accounting firm committed to helping our clients be more profitable, efficient and productive in today’s complex business environment. Our Digital Currency group is proud to partner with members of the cryptocurrency community. Get to know us at withum.com/crypto.