Bitcoiners Must Mine: Decentralizing Hashrate for the Next Era of Bitcoin

# Description Bitcoin was a zero-to-one innovation not just because it created an uncensorable, peer-to-peer value network — but also because it decentralized the money printer. Mining allows anyone, anywhere, to turn energy into new Bitcoin, enforcing the rules of the protocol itself. Yet over time, convenience and exchange culture shifted acquisition away from mining, leading to unintended consequences: a divided community of “buyers vs. miners,” and dangerous centralization of hashrate in a handful of pools and hardware suppliers. In this talk, Kent Halliburton will argue that Bitcoiners — especially developers — must return to mining. He’ll show how mining is the logical “final step” in the Bitcoiner journey (after buying, self-custody, running a node, and multi-sig) and why deeper participation matters for the protocol’s resilience. ### What is this talk about? Give us as many details as possible. Topics covered include: - Block template control & mining pools: Why who builds block templates matters, and how new pool protocols (e.g. Stratum V2, OCEAN) change the trust model. - Mining centralization risks: Current hardware and pool concentration stats, and their implications for censorship and double-spend risk. - Economic vs. ROI framing: Why mining should be measured in sats acquired vs. exchange price, not fiat ROI. - Wild sats: The importance of hardware-based, non-surveilled Bitcoin acquisition outside the banking system. - Strategic shift: Why decreasing exchange liquidity and Gresham’s Law suggest Bitcoin is moving from a “buy” phase to an “earn” phase. This is not a commercial pitch. It’s a developer-focused exploration of mining as infrastructure — and why the protocol itself is stronger when more Bitcoiners mine. ### What would an attendee learn from this talk? - How Bitcoin’s design included decentralized “money printing” from the start. - Why current acquisition trends created mining centralization risks. - Technical implications of mining pool and hardware concentration. - How developers can think about mining as a critical part of protocol decentralization. ### Is there anything folks should read up on before they attend this talk? - OCEAN pool design and Stratum V2 - Bitcoin Knots vs. Core debate on block template creation - The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth (context for Bitcoin’s long-term horizons) ### Relevant Links Sazmining https://www.sazmining.com/ Why Bitcoiners Must Mine – Kent Halliburton at Baltic Honeybadger 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ATUAk017ZA # About the Speaker Kent Halliburton is the CEO & Co-Founder of Sazmining, the world’s first 100% carbon-free Bitcoin Mining-as-a-Service platform. Sazmining enables Bitcoiners to mine and acquire “wild sats” directly from the protocol — without relying on exchanges or intermediaries — ensuring aligned incentives and full customer ownership of rigs. Before Bitcoin, Kent pioneered rooftop solar in the U.S., completing the first residential power purchase agreement and competing head-to-head with SolarCity. His career has consistently focused on decentralizing critical infrastructure, from energy to money. Today, he leads Sazmining’s mission to expand access to sustainable Bitcoin mining, helping individuals strengthen the network while securing sovereign, non-surveilled sats at cost. ### Social Links Github - N/A Twitter - https://x.com/khalliburton LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalliburton/ Website - https://www.sazmining.com/ # Talk Details ### Length of Talk: 30 minutes ### Preferred Day/Time Slot: Flexible, but prefer the morning time slots *We will do our best to accommodate your requested time slot. Please let us know if there are any dates/times that ***absolutely do not work*** for you.*