Bill Spence and Gregory Beard on The Real Story Behind Stronghold (EP.288)

Co-chairman of Stronghold Digital Mining Bill Spence and CEO Gregory Beard join the show. Stronghold is a vertically integrated Bitcoin miner that uses waste coal to power their operations – while also remediating this environmentally damaging product. We dive into this fascinating, and counter-intuitive story. In this episode:  Backgrounds of the co-chairmen and how they found the intersection of Bitcoin mining and coal waste mitigation Bill's personal commitment to the mitigation of coal waste Why coal waste has been accumulating in PA since the late 1700s The immense scale of the coal waste and how it continue to affect PA, even though mining no longer occurs How unremediated coal waste can be understood as a form of class warfare Why coal waste exists in the first place Why developments in power plant technology meant that coal waste could be safely combusted Why aboveground coal waste oxidizes and releases CO2 anyway - as well as other harmful particulates Why growing grass over the coal waste doesn't solve the problem Why 2 billion tons of coal waste can't just be moved into landfills How there are 800 sites in PA and 70 of them are currently on fire Why Stronghold is vertically integrated, and the advantage this grants them in mining Bitcoin How Stronghold sends power to the grid in the case of a shortage Has Stronghold evaluated other high energy intensity loads aside from just Bitcoin Why Bitcoin is a more suitable load for their energy resources than others How Bitcoin allows Stronghold to keep their power available at short notice Stronghold's reaction to criticism in the press and from Washington Why nothing had been done about the coal waste for 100 years before Stronghold came along Is the future of Bitcoin mining vertical integration? Sponsor notes:  Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io