🎙️ My guest today is Bob Burnett, veteran technologist, former Gateway CTO, and now CEO of Barefoot Mining. From consumer tech pioneer with eight U.S. patents to leader in sovereign Bitcoin mining, Bob shares his vision for “wild mining,” where miners own their energy using innovative energy sources. He challenges the myth that mining is only for massive corporations, showing how small, strategically placed operations can be both profitable and decentralizing. We discuss adoption curves, block template decentralization, why nation-states should build mining infrastructure before buying Bitcoin reserves, lessons from the early PC revolution, and the coming energy race with AI and High-Performance Computing.
This episode is also on Twitter, Spotify, Fountain, Rumble and more.
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We talked about:
00:00 – Coming Up
01:29 – Bob’s Background & His Long Tech Career
05:15 – Bob’s Patents & Innovations, Early Adopter Mindset
10:00 – Leap Frog Into New Tech Frontiers - AI & Bitcoin
14:00 – PC As Prerequisite For The Internet Revolution
17:00 – Good & Bad Actors
19:00 – Why Bob Chose Bitcoin Mining
21:10 – Bob’s Bitcoin Mining 101 Explanation
25:00 – Why Bitcoin & Barefoot Mining?
34:20 – Smaller Scale 0.5-5MW “Wild” Mining Sites Can Be As Cost Effective As Larger 50-200MW Sites
39:40 – Barefoot Mining Expansion
41:40 – The Energy Landscape and Bitcoin Mining
43:44 – Opportunities for Small-Scale Mining
46:39 – Meaning of HODL & Role of Citizens in Bitcoin
48:24 – Key Trends in Bitcoin, Inc. Template Creation
54:54 – Political Implications & Weaponization of Bitcoin Mining
1:00:54 – Economic Sovereignty through Mining
1:04:36 – The OP_Return Debate & Facilitating Change
1:12:06 – Bob’s Hope for the Future
My takeaways from this episode:
Bob recounts his path from 40 years in tech—holding eight U.S. patents and serving as Gateway’s CTO—to discovering Bitcoin’s potential and committing himself to mining as a way to defend the network for future generations, including his grandchildren
He explains how his concept of “wild mining” flips the traditional model by producing his own off-grid energy from sources like 19th-century hydro plants, dairy farm biogas, and stranded natural gas wells, ensuring sovereignty and insulation from grid politics
Bob outlines the mining adoption curve—from innovators who embrace complexity to early and late majorities who demand seamless usability—drawing parallels to the personal computer revolution and the leap to the internet
He warns that mining centralization creates risks, as large pools control transaction inclusion, and advocates for decentralizing block template creation through tools like Stratum V2 and Ocean’s Datum to resist censorship
Bob challenges the myth that mining is only for massive corporations, showing how small, strategically placed operations can be cost-competitive and highly profitable while strengthening decentralization
He describes the growing competition for cheap energy from AI and high-performance computing, and why off-grid, stranded-energy sites may be the future of mining scalability
Bob makes the case that nation-states should prioritize building mining infrastructure before amassing strategic Bitcoin reserves, using hash power as a tool for economic sovereignty and censorship resistance in global trade
He shares concerns about Bitcoin’s cultural and governance maturity, pointing to debates like “OP_RETURN” as signs that the community must develop better processes for decision-making before critical challenges like quantum resistance arise
Bob urges Bitcoiners to go beyond passive hodling, taking active roles—whether in mining, running nodes, coding, or educating—to ensure the network’s resilience and independence
The conversation closes with Bob’s optimism that resistance to Bitcoin is softening, signaling an early-majority shift much like the personal computer adoption curve, and his hope that more seasoned technologists will join the movement to fortify its future
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