Chess, Solar, and Sound Money: Besa Masaiti on Bitcoin Mining in Emerging Markets

What happens when a professional chess player with a Master's in Financial Engineering starts applying quantitative modeling to Bitcoin mining and solar energy in emerging markets? In this episode, I sit down with Besa Masaiti, founder of Rehoboth Research, a Pennsylvania-based firm that provides data-driven intelligence for complex infrastructure projects. Besa's work focuses on de-risking renewable energy and high-compute operations in places most analysts aren't even looking at yet, including Botswana, where government energy initiatives are creating real opportunities at the intersection of Bitcoin mining and solar development. We get into how her background in chess shaped the way she thinks about risk, pattern recognition, and decision-making under uncertainty. We talk about what "bankable decisions" actually means when you're trying to convince a lender that a solar-powered mining operation in sub-Saharan Africa is viable. And we discuss why policy and legislation are the most underappreciated variables in infrastructure development. Topics covered: Besa's path from competitive chess and financial engineering to founding Rehoboth Research What "quantitative intelligence for complex infrastructure" looks like in practice De-risking solar-powered compute projects in emerging markets Botswana's energy transition and why it matters for Bitcoin miners The overlooked variables that determine whether a mining operation succeeds or fails Community pushback against data centers and how to navigate it Why AI may be the biggest catalyst for energy infrastructure development in the next decade Bitcoin mining as a tool for grid development, not just profit Learn more about Rehoboth Research: https://rehobothresearch.org/ Subscribe to the Hard Money Dispatch newsletter: https://brian-nibleys-newsletter.beehiiv.com Follow me on Twitter/X: https://x.com/bdncontent