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

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!