Michael Schmid ⚡️

This week at the Nashville Energy Mining Summit the @256FOUNDATION (@skot9000 @ryankuester @jungly @econoalchemist @Schnitzel) presented something that hasn’t existed in #Bitcoin for a long time: 👉 a fully open-source Bitcoin mining stack Hardware. Firmware. Software. Mining Pool. Every layer open. Yes, it also cooked steaks. More on that later 🥩⚡

@SamEdwardsIV I'm in!

I'm starting a new meetup. For Bitcoiners. For AI builders. And those diving in to this new world of emerging tech. Tracking interest for now, then we'll see where it goes!

@damusapp @hodlstack Same! Would love to help testing, got 10+ OpenClaws running and looking for a central management layer, all existing ones (slack, telegram, etc) all are not FOSS and freedomtech.

@hodlstack good to know! we’ll work extra hard on getting an alpha test together

A sneak peek at Damus Agentium: remotely control claude code instances on all of your devices via nostr. Spawn any number of claude code instances on your desktop/laptop and control them all from anywhere. all end to end encrypted on decentralized relays. No servers needed 😎

@tylerkstevens We should really start a foundation to create a FOSS miner

Bitmain pulled the S23 air cooled model from the market. No immersion. 10 kW+ hydro only. Whatsminer launched the 70 series. 10/15 models are 3-phase 380-480 V. If you think you'll "retrofit" old miners to heat your house forever, you are ngmi. We need a FOSS mining stack.

@OGBTC @MARA @RiotPlatforms @CleanSpark_Inc @Hut8Corp @Core_Scientific @IREN_Ltd Mhh are they already ready for deployment?

Big Bitcoin mining companies @MARA @RiotPlatforms @CleanSpark_Inc @Hut8Corp @Core_Scientific @IREN_Ltd, we need to talk. 🧵⚡ You’ve outsourced all hardware decisions to Bitmain & MicroBT - and it’s quietly costing you money, flexibility, and long-term control.

@plubtcm Correct, but thats a LOT of R&D. Facebook and the Open Compute Project showed that with open source and working together companies can achieve more with less costs.

@Schnitzel nobody is restricting the miners to do it, they can create a RD team and do it. Still is open market, still China is the leader although ASML is the monopoly.

@plubtcm allow the mining companies to create their own standards which then are matched by the ASIC manufacturers. Aka build the machine for the needs of the situation, and not the other way around.

@Schnitzel how would you change that?

@LukeDashjr @MARA @RiotPlatforms @CleanSpark_Inc @Hut8Corp @Core_Scientific @IREN_Ltd @corescientific yes, however Proto rigs are still not fully open source. They seem to be a lot more focused on the needs of miners - which is awesome, but only a fully open source hardware and software stack allows full freedom.

@Schnitzel @MARA @RiotPlatforms @CleanSpark_Inc @Hut8Corp @Core_Scientific @IREN_Ltd Didn't @corescientific get a deal with Block for Proto rigs?

The question isn’t whether open mining hardware will happen. 🔮 It’s who shapes it. Will large miners lead — or adapt later? The door is open. Let’s build. 🚀

By investing in open mining hardware now, miners can: 💡 • Reduce vendor lock-in • Lower long-term costs • Improve reliability • Protect shareholder value This is strategy, not ideology.

This isn’t about “going all-in” tomorrow. 🤝 It’s about strategic investment: • Donate (501c3, tax-deductible) • Contribute engineers • Share requirements, experiences, best practices

Whether you’re pivoting into AI or not, the signal is clear. 📈 Hardware industries are moving toward openness and shared foundations. Bitcoin mining can lead — or react later. ⏳

There’s another lesson: talent. 👩‍💻👨‍💻 Great engineers want open systems. Closed boxes repel talent. Open platforms attract it. Entire industries learned this the hard way.

We’ve seen this before. 🧠 @facebook didn’t accept vendor limits — they open-sourced data-center hardware via @OpenComputePrj Lower costs. Better reliability. Industry standards. 📦

On the software side, open firmware enables: 📊🤖 • Real observability • Stable APIs • Predictive maintenance • AI-driven failure detection This is normal elsewhere. Mining is behind — by choice.

With open hardware + firmware, miners could: 🔄 • Standardize rack-scale designs • Tailor for air, immersion, hydro, or 2-phase • Build modular, pluggable systems Control comes back to you. 🎛️

Over the last 8 months, the @256foundation built a fully open-source Bitcoin mining stack — hardware to pool. 🛠️🔓 It’s not an end product. It’s a reference design — meant to be adapted, scaled, and industrialized with mining companies. 🏗️

This isn’t inevitable. 🚫 It’s a choice — and the industry has accepted it. But the old excuse (“there’s no open alternative”) is no longer true. 👀

And ASICs assume one thing only: ⚙️ ➡️ start once ➡️ ramp up ➡️ run at 100% forever That ignores heat reuse, grid stabilization, partial load, or fast ramping. ⚡🌡️

There’s also no standard form factor. 🧱 “Shoebox miners” don’t fit real data-center racks. Instead of mature DC standards, mining ops get forced into custom builds — higher CAPEX, higher OPEX. 🏗️

Firmware makes it worse. 🧩 Closed source. Bad UIs. Limited logs. Undocumented APIs. At scale, this means outages, manual ops, and zero trust in what the miner is actually doing. 🚨

Recent example: Bitmain pulled the S23 air-cooled model entirely. ❌🌬️ Companies that planned around air cooling were left stranded overnight. That’s vendor lock-in — and you pay for it. 💸