Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, made critical statements about the future of the industry, the energy war between Bitcoin and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the major changes in the mining world during a broadcast he participated in.
Fred Thiel, one of the leading figures in the Bitcoin mining and data center infrastructure industry, painted a striking picture of Bitcoin’s future. According to Thiel, the next big move in the market will not only be price-driven but will also be shaped by energy and computing power capacity.
Thiel noted that access to energy is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly in the US. Adding that the massive demand from the AI sector is transforming the energy market, the CEO stated that giant data center operators, known as “Hyperscalers,” are scrambling for land that already has electricity connections. Thiel emphasized the growing value of having access to energy capacity, saying, “Time has become more important than cost. Companies can’t wait until 2029 to run their GPUs; they need energy now.”
Thiel also touched upon the cost of Bitcoin mining equipment, explaining that hardware prices are at historical lows. He stated that costs, which peaked at $80-100 per TeraHash in 2021, have now fallen to $8-9 due to technological innovation and oversupply. He added that this creates a great opportunity for those looking to add new capacity, but puts pressure on the profit margins of miners who have high energy costs.
Responding to investors’ question, “If miners switch to AI, will the security of the Bitcoin network be jeopardized?”, Thiel stated that the Bitcoin blockchain network is currently more than secure and that changes in hash rate do not pose a risk to the network.
*This is not investment advice.