The Mining Disrupt News Surge episode dated Monday, August 19, 2024 opened the usual way, with a reminder that the show is for entertainment and education and is not financial advice. The host said he had 16 tabs to get through after a busy week in the Bitcoin world, and that he recorded this one a day early, on Saturday, because of plans on Sunday. Starting with the numbers on timechaincalendar.com, he read the price of one Bitcoin as $59,497, or 1,681 sats for a single dollar.
He walked through the week day by day, starting with Sunday, August 11, when British HODL predicted a bullish week and Samson Mao said his indicators agreed. Bitcoin, the host said, mostly hovered in the same range and did not do much of anything. On Monday, Saifedean reposted a line from a year earlier arguing that everything has an opportunity cost, and that being underweight Bitcoin means being overweight central bank money. On the mining side, the host noted that the CleanSpark CEO said the company would launch a pool to help diversify the network's pool options, something the host said the network needs. On Wednesday, River posted a short video on what a strategic Bitcoin reserve like the one Senator Lummis proposed would mean for the United States.
On Tuesday, August 13, the host said British HODL was the first account he saw repeating a claim that circulated widely that week, though he could not find its original source.
Goldman Sachs just declared a $500 million position in Bitcoin.
Host · 3:04
The host said he believed any such exposure would be through the ETFs rather than direct Bitcoin holdings, but told viewers not to quote him on that, because he could not find the article everyone was talking about. On the show, the claim stayed a rumor. The same day he read a post from American HODL contrasting two kinds of Bitcoin believer: a Goldman commodities veteran with a mathematics PhD and a 37-page thesis forecasting a 36% annual growth rate, and a grocery store stock boy who writes a Reddit post at 2 a.m. about Bitcoin going to infinity. The host joked that he thought the post had the order backwards.
On Thursday, August 15, the host read a post from Mitchell Hoddle that he said captures an idea not enough people outside the Bitcoin space think about.
It's actually crazy that the average person's entire net worth is comprised entirely of rotting lumber and drywall, government IOUs, and equity in like seven companies.
Mitchell Hoddle · 6:20
The host said Saylor and others have made the point many times, but that he does not think enough people outside the Bitcoin space really wrap their heads around it: most household wealth sits in a house, government debt and a handful of big stocks.
Thursday, August 15 also marked an anniversary the host called historic. It was the date in 1971 when the United States stopped converting dollars into gold, which he described as subjecting Americans to an unprecedented and disastrous economic experiment. A lot of that day's news, he said, covered exactly that.
That was the day in 1971 that President Nixon suspended the convertibility of the U. S. dollar into gold.
Host · 4:24
To show the effect, the host shared a picture from BitcoinNews.com showing that from 1980 to 2024 the Big Mac rose from 50 cents to $8 while shrinking by 40%. He also played a video arguing that people point to a 2.3 inflation reading and ask what the fuss is about, when the real comparison is with prices a few years ago, back in 2020, a 20% change. That, he said, is why groceries feel so much more expensive and why filling the gas tank feels like paying nearly double. He added a post from Lyn Alden pushing back on claims that grocery stores are price gouging, pointing to a Kroger profit margin of 1.43%. And he shared a meme from Reddit that he said captures the Bitcoin ethos better than any other: just save in Bitcoin and focus on your craft.
The episode ended on hardware. Coming back to the need for more decentralization in mining, the host showed a Bitaxe being cooled with a liquid cooling system and called it one of the coolest projects he knows of in Bitcoin mining. He admitted the hardware and software are beyond him, calling himself just a talking head, but said this is exactly what the Bitcoin space needs more of. He said he does not own one yet and would like to get one, because for the price it seems worth it.
And hey, you might make a huge sum of Bitcoin in the process of doing that.
Host · 8:16
His case was participation first. Running one of these devices helps the Bitcoin network, he said, and you might find a block along the way. He said he had done the math, and that the chances of finding a Bitcoin block are orders of magnitude higher than hitting a lotto ticket, unless you compare it with a small payout of around $1,000. A few of them increase your chances further, which is why he called one a better birthday gift or stocking stuffer than another lotto scratcher: a little more expensive, but you are also helping the network.
Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, the host had shared an animated chart from Wicked showing how quickly Bitcoin's supply has been mined.
Only 6% left to be mined over the next 116 years.
Wicked · 3:46
With 94% of the 21 million Bitcoin already mined, the host said that in terms of supply Bitcoin is more or less done, and that for anyone without a piece of the pie, it is only going to get harder to get. When this episode aired on August 19, 2024, Bitcoin traded at $58,405 by our reference price; on October 26, 2026 it was $80,028. The conversation continues at Mining Disrupt 2027, March 22 to 24 in Irving, Texas.