Key Takeaways
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Tyler Stevens (XRG) reframes Bitcoin miners as smart electric heaters that turn every watt into heat while earning a “Bitcoin rebate,” making them viable replacements or supplements for propane/oil and even some electric systems, especially in cold, high-cost markets. Real-world pilots (e.g., hydro-cooled miners driving radiant floors) show strong economics, and the addressable “comfort heat” load is so large that even 1% adoption could add significant zettahash to the network while distributing hash rate back to homes and small businesses. The go-to-market path runs through HVAC/plumbing trades, with incentives like hash-rate splits for installers and simpler firmware to throttle miners to heat demand. As hardware matures (modular hashboards, single-phase hydro units) and software improves (fleet tools, fast tuning, room-sensor control), “heat punk” shifts from DIY novelty to a practical, cost-cutting energy upgrade that also strengthens Bitcoin.
Best Quotes
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“Bitcoin mining is smart resistive heating. It’s the same as an electric heater, but with a protocol attached that pays you.”
“Every watt of electricity that turns into heat is also going towards the mining network. Why wouldn’t you monetize that?”
“Fifty percent of the world’s energy is used for heat, and half of that is comfort heat. Even 1% adoption adds multiple zettahash to the network.”
“300 homes in Alaska could save $15 million a year on heating, and that subsidy is paid out by the Bitcoin network, not the U.S. government.”
“This is not a mining operation that sells heat, it’s a heating operation that earns Bitcoin as a rebate.”
“The HVAC industry hasn’t innovated in a century. Incentivizing installers with hash rate splits could flip the whole market.”
“Bitcoin’s proof of work is literally a way to make computers sweat. Why not use that sweat to warm your home?”
“People ask, ‘Why not just buy Bitcoin?’ But heating is a sunk cost, you’re going to pay it anyway. Why not earn sats at the same time?”
“We’re niche of niche of niche, Bitcoin mining heating, but it feels like the perfect Trojan horse for decentralization.”
“Imagine a future where blue-collar plumbers manage fleets of Bitcoin-heating systems across towns. That’s passive income and network resilience in one.”
Conclusion
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Viewing miners as heaters first, and miners second, turns an unavoidable expense into a yielding utility that reduces bills, decentralizes hash ownership, and nudges pool diversity, all while improving comfort and efficiency. If products, firmware, and installer incentives align, HVAC pros can deploy fleets of Bitcoin-heated systems across homes and businesses, quietly embedding network security into everyday infrastructure. The result is a win-win: lower heating costs and a more resilient Bitcoin, with blue-collar trades at the center of the next wave of decentralization.
Timestamps
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0:00 - Intro
0:30 - Tyler's backgorund
7:01 - ASIC race and return to consumer application
11:28 - Making computers sweat
16:10 - Bitkey & Unchainedc
17:52 - Target markets for hashrate heating
20:10 - Total addressable market
22:37 - Demo of heat system at The Space
29:48 - Bitcoin rebate mechanics
34:23 - Obscura \* Opportunity Cost
35:48 - Pool distribution and market timing
50:48 - Smart heaters
56:20 - Exergy’s vision
1:05:01 - How to get started
Transcript
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(00:00) We're talking about tens of millions of dollars of savings. The government subsidizes everyone's heating bills. They pay the utility directly. And 300 homes would save like $15 million. That's paid out by the Bitcoin network, not the US government. Running a small mediumsiz HVAC business, like great way to build a Bitcoin treasury.
(00:18) You had to see people like yourself out there actually doing the hard work to solve that really hard long-term problem, which is how do we keep this sufficiently distributed? Are we going to distribute hash rate, Tyler? Way more than you think. Way more than you think. I was refreshing my stats for you, Marty, before I jumped on. Oh, good. Cuz the stats are what I want to talk about.
(00:43) You got fresh stats just for you. I feel like every time I see you while we were in Georgia together. Yeah. A couple weeks ago. You always making progress. is always more excited than the previous time I saw you and getting me more bullish on mining waste heat as a consumer application. The heat's a product, not waste. But yeah. Yes. Yes.
(01:08) Yeah. Yeah. It was fun to catch up in Georgia. Um we're tinkering. We're getting hash rate heating online. Well, let's um let's give the audience a little intro to yourself for those who may be unaware of what Tyler is up to. You have CEO of the space, but you're also um started a company using Bitcoin mining heat as a byproduct to do uh the heating uh in homes in home applications. Uh that company is called Xurgy.
(01:43) So, why don't we get a little background on yourself, how you came to Bitcoin, Bitcoin mining specifically, and even further into your niche with a focus on using mining heat. Yeah, the Bitcoin story. Thanks for asking. I um moved out to Colorado after grad school. I was studying mechanical engineering and it was happen stance. I'm one of the lucky few I was listening to.
(02:08) I think it was Jordan Peterson and Safeodine for my 20-hour drive from the Midwest. That was like one of my first intros to Bitcoin. And then I proceeded to listen to 19 more hours of Bitcoin podcast on my drive and immediately found the Bit Devs community out here. So, I was fresh blood, but I avoided all the shitcoinery.
(02:27) I was lucky in that case. Um, my first Bitcoin I ever bought was at the all-time high of 2021, so it was all down. But I was surrounded by good people. I got brought out here to do aerospace engineering. So, I worked for a company owned by Loheed and Boeing called United Launch Alliance.
(02:45) They're kind of the uh the government version of SpaceX, let's say. Um, SpaceX launches 100 plus rockets a year, though. ULA launches too. Um, and in that time, I I would spend more time with the Bitcoiners, obviously. was working on thermal stuff, temperature predictions, heat rates, had that kind of eye for things.
(03:09) And it was at a bit devs once where a friend of mine, Travis, brought like an S19 um kit that was converted with a Loki board from Zack Bombstead to run off 110 volts. And that was where I really saw the light for Bitcoin heating. And so I came in viewing these things as waste heat out the get-go. That was my entry point to mining. Um, ultimately ended up leaving that role at the aerospace company after two years in January 24. It was funny.
(03:29) I actually was up till 1:00 a.m. in the launch control room watching the rocket I worked on for 2 years launch. Went to bed for 6 hours. Came back 9:00 a.m. Quit. Went straight to Denver International Airport. Flew to NEMS. First time I saw you, I think, there at Bitcoin Park. Met Rod and the guy. Saw Schnitle with his hashtub.
(03:50) And I was just I had I didn't really have a plan, but I knew like this is what I wanted to do. So what came out of that was that community from Bit Devs. We kept working to build our our Denver Bitcoin community into a physical location that started the space. Got 82 members now here. Most of them are in Colorado. So we do a lot of events and that's where my office is now.
(04:12) And then in that time, I I kept researching this Bitcoin heating thing and kept having calls with people, learning, tinkering, and ultimately just decided to tell the guys at Brains, I was like, "Hey, I have a lot of notes on this. Like, why don't we just put it into a book?" And they were um helpful and a great partner in that sense. And so I put together a book, Bitcoin Mining Heat Reuse.
(04:30) I got a copy of it here. And then the subsequent NEMS 2025, that was where we met and I got you a copy, Marty. I I launched that book this past January and then really after that come April time frame started to ideulate on how could this could get turned into a company and so started XRG in April with uh my friend Mike Clear and Dylan Sy and we our goal is really to decentralize hash rate bring mining back home where it started started in the homes with the laptops and the GPUs and transition to these industrial
(05:03) products which makes sense like it's a story that you can follow all the steps difficulty went up. Got to have more power to compete. The devices literally like morphed into I see them as heaters because the reason they're shoe boxes and like the power constraint, the hash rate constraint, the efficiency constraint, they literally can't pump more power into them or they'll overheat. They're all like thermally bottleneck.
(05:24) So, they're little heating boxes and we're trying to now use those for the main product they make, which is heat. Only sometimes do they get Bitcoin and bring it back home. I love it. That's an incredible story and I didn't know that background that you uh found Bitcoin via Jordan Peterson and say fell down the rabbit hole. I'm sure many people were listening to JP during the co time.
(05:47) Yeah. And then it takes balls to quit your job right after you watch your baby launched into space 6 hours later. That's uh it's funny working for the defense contractor. My dad's a longtime Air Force vet. I always had that mindset in my family. It's funny. My dad is very much like the straight arrow government guy.
(06:11) I joke with him cuz he went right in after college. So, he's never made a free market dollar in his life. Like every dollar he's made is printed or stolen. Um, love you, Dad. But, and my mom is very much like the opposite. A