Welcome to Blockstream Talk. Today's conversation is with Assaf Gilboa, Blockstream Executive Vice President of Hardware Engineering. We discussed Blockstream’s acquisition of ASIC manufacturer Spondoolies and the new synergy created. We also went in depth on the centralization around the semiconductor foundry business and the bottleneck that is TSMC and Samsung as well as equipment order logistics and whether energy is the big pinch point constraining Hash rate growth. If you find this conversation useful, don't forget to share with your network.
05:29 Boom or bust in Bitcoin mining
07:22 What makes Spondoolies different?
09:20 Making ASIC parts easily replaceable
10:46 Blockstream and Spondoolies synergies
13:07 Optimizing Blockstream's Bitcoin mining
13:52 Air cooled and immersion mining
16:00 Institutional investment entering Bitcoin mining
18:17 Road map for Blockstream's upcoming ASIC machine
20:55 Centralization of chip foundry services
25:32 Essential advanced manufacturing processes
28:17 Foundry services planning rigidity
30:02 Difficulties in securing chip allocations
31:00 Bitcoin miners foundry requirements
32:14 Current selling pressure on miners
34:19 ASIC acquisition industry dynamics
39:24 ASIC price change implications
41:34 Mining industry consolidation during the bear market
43:33 Hashrate is looking for stability
46:43 Modelling Bitcoin hashrate and price
49:11 Why more manufacturers aren't in Bitcoin
53:00 Bitcoin mining in 5 years
58:39 The upcoming Blockstream ASIC