Fred Thiel, CEO of MARA, one of the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, appeared on journalist Nathalie Brunel’s CoinStory program and made notable comments about crypto mining, the future of Bitcoin, and strategies for migrating to artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
One of the most important topics highlighted in the interview was the process by which Bitcoin miners are migrating their energy infrastructure to AI data centers. Thiel said AI data centers offer significantly higher returns per unit of power consumed compared to Bitcoin mining.
Thiel said MARA has more than 4 gigawatts (GW) of energy capacity and will continue to mine Bitcoin at the facility until the infrastructure is transformed into an AI data center, adding that the two areas can be flexibly managed together.
“The biggest cost item is power. AI companies pay much more per electron than mining. But they can continue mining Bitcoin until the power is transferred to the data center.”
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Thiel said that while he hasn’t lost faith in Bitcoin, he has changed his view, saying that Bitcoin’s biggest drawback as an asset is the lack of returns. He said that unless there is a geopolitical crisis or severe inflationary pressures, Bitcoin will become a balanced store of value indexed to inflation, rather than experiencing “unrealistic” extreme price increases.
Noting that the company has sold its reserves of approximately 20,000 Bitcoin, Thiel said that MARA is not a “digital asset treasury company” and that its Bitcoin holdings are considered part of a money management strategy. The proceeds from the sale were used to repay discount bonds and reduce debt burden.
*This is not investment advice.
