THE MINING POD: MARA’s CTO Shakeup, BlackRock’s $40B AI Deal, Bitdeer’s $2B AI Plans, Ionic Digital’s Microsoft Deal

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Business News, News, Daily News, Tech News

4.7 • 698 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a packed week for bitcoin mining news, MARA has dismissed its CTO, BlackRock cooks up a $40 billion data center firm acquisition, and Bitdeer unveils its $2 billion AI ambitions. Click Here To Join the BitAxe Giveaway! Welcome back to The Mining Pod! This week, Luxor CEO Nick Hansen joins us to talk multi-month hashprice lows (how low do we go?), MARA firing its CTO, Ionic Digital’s Microsoft-linked AI deal, Bitdeer’s gangbusters September and $2B AI plans, and BlackRock taking the lead on a $40B data center company acquisition. Plus, the US government seizes $14.1B (potentially $16.5B total) in bitcoin from an international scam operation. **Notes:** • Hash price dropped below $50/PH/day at $47 • Difficulty adjustment down 2.5% after months of increases • Bitcoin price fell from $125K to $108K post-tariff news • Marathon quietly cans CTO • Bitdeer mined 452 BTC in Sept, up 20.5% month-over-month • Bitdeer projects $2B annual revenue from AI starting in 2026 • BlackRock leads $40B Aligned Data Centers acquisition • US seized $14.1B+ Bitcoin from crime syndicate • PJM needs 43GW battery storage by 2045 • Ionic Digital secured 240MW Microsoft lease, expandable to 1.2GW Timestamps: 00:00:00:00 Start 00:01:51:00 Difficulty Report by Luxor 00:11:28:10 MARA CTO fired 00:15:40:17 Ionic Digital gets into the AI action 00:18:16:13 PJM needs 43 GW of battery by 2045 00:23:22:16 Bitdeer’s big September 00:27:56:23 BlackRock & Nvidia deal 00:35:03:28 Cry Corner: Uncle Sam gets that bag 👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner! CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK), America's Bitcoin Miner®, is a market-leading Bitcoin miner with a proven track record of success. They own a fully self-operated portfolio of mining facilities across the U.S. powered by globally competitive energy prices. CleanSpark sits at the intersection of Bitcoin, energy, operational excellence and capital stewardship. Optimally monetizing low-cost, high reliability electricity positions them to prosper in an ever-changing world. 👉 FBOX, Cooling for Bitcoin Mining and the AI Data Center Transformation FBOX is the global leader in cooling system manufacturing, with the #1 shipment volume of bitcoin mining containers worldwide. Not only powering for the strongest hashrate, their technology also helps mining infrastructure transform into AI data centers. Backed by the largest production scale on earth, global deployment capability, and a full range of cooling solutions, they are shaping the future of compute. 👉 Luxor, Leaders In Bitcoin Mining and Compute Power! Get game-changing mining results with Luxor Firmware. Boost hashrate, cut energy costs, protect your hardware, and maximize mining profits with LuxOS. Published twice weekly, "The Mining Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday and a news show on Friday!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week in Bitcoin mining news, an executive shakeup at Mara and an ionic digital comes out of the woodwork with an AI deal.
0:07.2	This is the mining pod brought to you by CleanSpark.
0:09.7	We've got a few other news items as well, including a study that says that the PJM interconnection market needs 43 gigawatts of battery storage by 2045 in order to support the grid as it adds new AI and HBC load.
0:24.4	Plus, BitDeer's Gangbuster September and their plans for AI and HBC in 2026, BlackRock striking a $40 billion AI data center deal, biggest yet in terms of an acquisition.
0:37.4	And for this week's cry corner,
0:39.4	the U.S. government seizing 14.1 billion and potentially an additional 2.4 billion from a
0:45.8	cryptocurrency international scam syndicate. This is the mining pod. Thanks for joining y'all.
0:50.6	Guys, there is a serious problem right now in Bitcoin mining, and we need to talk about it.
0:54.9	You need to pay attention to this.
0:56.6	Bitcoin miners are identifying as AI companies, and people keep mis-sectoring them because
1:02.2	they say, well, look, your infrastructure is clearly for Bitcoin mining.
1:06.0	What do you want me to do about it?
1:07.4	I'm going to tell you what you need to do.
1:09.2	You need to call F-Box, the leading digital
1:12.6	infrastructure company with all-encompassing cooling solutions. F-box designs industry-leading,
1:18.3	air, hydro, and emerging cooling systems for Bitcoin mining and AI and HBC data centers. I want to
1:23.3	highlight that. If you're a Bitcoin miner who needs to bridge the gap, if you're pivoting or
1:27.2	doing hybrid operations, they can build cooling solutions and infrastructure for both your
1:31.9	Bitcoin mining and your AI and HBC operations. And they have an in-house API that lets you monitor
1:37.8	it from the web or on mobile. So go to www.fbox.fx.combeck backslash contact to learn how FBOx can help you optimize your digital infrastructure today.
1:51.2	All righty. Matt Kimmel.
1:54.1	Mr. Difficulty Weatherman.
	...

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