My apologies for all the background noise, but it was recorded live on location at 8th Wonder Brewery in Houston where the event was held.
The intersection of crypto, bitcoin, and Web 3.0 with energy markets, both traditional and low-carbon, is a general topic area I am in the process of ramping up on. Toward that end, I attended the Digital Wildcatter's EMPOWER: Energizing Bitcoin conference at Houston's 8th Wonder Brewery on March 30-31. Casual dress, a brewery, a "Beetles" stage, bitcoin mining demonstration projects, and free bottled water helped create an excellent learning environment (for the record, I did not drink any beer during this Houston visit).
Takeaways
Signal vs noise. I will use my ESG views as an analogy to bitcoin/crypto. With ESG, I have differentiated between the “virtue signaling” variety that we could all do without and I think causes far more harm than good and “substantive” ESG that is indeed needed. The equivalent for bitcoin/crypto, in my view, are what I believe are called the Bitcoin maximalists that believe the US dollar is doomed and Bitcoin is its inevitable replacement. While I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, I do not share the view that Bitcoin will be an excellent reserve currency replacement for the US dollar. The part of the crypto-verse I do find highly intriguing is the potential for distributed blockchain ledger technology to allow for digital privacy, asset ownership, contracts, decentralization, reduced dependency on Big Tech and Big Banks, and related themes.
Future currency? Not so fast. While I agree that fiat currency debasement is a fact of life, I am unaware of hard currency alternatives that lead to better societal outcomes. I also have not heard any Bitcoin maximalist accurately (in my view) describe the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policies and what it means or doesn't mean for money creation. To that end, I would encourage everyone to listen to Jeff Snider and Emil Kalinowsky on their excellent Eurodollar University podcast (Spotify or Apple Podcasts) for a real education on the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, and the plumbing of our global financial system. The US dollar, like democracy and capitalism, is far from perfect. But it is better than every alternative humankind has come up with thus far.
Web 3! Crypto via so-called "proof of work" is the fuel that allows blockchain verification in a "trustless" environment. Proof of work is compute power intensive; hence the link between Web 3 and energy markets. It is early days for Web 3. My initial take is that we are in the "Amazon starts selling books online" stage of it. The long-term upside potential is meaningful for energy markets to the extent proof of work remains the enabling mechanism to secure the blockchain.
Methane/gas management. Currently, the relationship between traditional energy companies and bitcoin miners comes via stranded gas arrangements. Or perhaps more accurately, areas where an E&P company wants to grow oil production but there is inadequate natural gas takeaway capacity. Bitcoin miners have struck deals to capture natural gas that would otherwise have been flared/vented (which is terrible, by the way) in order to generate power via a natural gas generator, which is then used to power the massive ASIC computers used to mine bitcoin. The oil company benefits by receiving value for otherwise worthless natural gas, while also benefitting the environment via reduced flaring/venting. A private Bakken E&P and its bitcoin mining partner at the conference indicated the E&P was receiving a price for its gas that was greater than zero but less than the equivalent pipeline gas price.
Bitcoin miners want cheap, reliable power. Apparently bitcoin miners are no different than all of the rest of humanity in desiring the least expensive, most reliable power. In some applications, this comes through renewables like solar, wind, and hydro. In other cases, it will come through stranded natural gas. Importantly, bitcoin miners enjoy (seemingly) near complete location flexibility, which could be helpful to monetizing energy resources in remote locations (e.g., Africa, rural/in-land locations).
⚡️On a personal note...
I would like to acknowledge Josh Crumb of ABAXX Technologies and Max Gagliardi of the TalkEnergy podcast for sparking my interest in this topic, and the team at the Digital Wildcatter's for hosting this unique conference.
⚖️ Disclaimer
I certify that these are my personal, strongly held views at the time of this post. My views are my own and not attributable to any affiliation, past or present. This is not an investment newsletter and there is no financial advice explicitly or implicitly provided here. My views can and will change in the future as warranted by updated analyses and developments. Some of my comments are made in jest for entertainment purposes; I sincerely mean no offense to anyone that takes issue.
Regards,
Arjun
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Intro & Outro music: Children of Bodom, Needled 24/7.
This episode of Super-Spiked Videopods was created and lightly directed, edited, and produced by Super-Spiked Productions. Intro and outro designs were created in Canva. The body of the video was shot on iPhone. The video was produced and mixed in iMovie for iPad.
Super-Spiked Videopods (EP5): Energizing Bitcoin