As promised, I am doing my diligence on IREN.
Per Frans' suggestion, I started with a Peter McCormack's episode with Daniel Roberts, Co-CEO of IREN.
If you are a fellow IREN virgin, here's everything you need to know (with my added commentary).
A 🧵:
1/ Meet the Co-CEOs
Daniel and Will Roberts are the co-CEO brothers behind IREN (Iris Energy), a Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure company powered by 100% renewable energy.
Dan brings 20+ years of experience in infrastructure, renewables, and finance, with previous roles at Macquarie Capital and Palisade Investment Partners, a multi-billion AUM infrastructure fund.
Will’s background is in commodities, mining, and digital assets, spending over a decade at Macquarie Group where he co-founded their digital assets team.
Together, the Roberts brothers founded IREN in 2018 after discovering Bitcoin in 2013.
Their edge?
Deep infrastructure expertise and a vision to solve energy grid challenges while scaling Bitcoin and AI compute.
2/ IREN = Bitcoin + AI
Back in the 2000s, Daniel saw firsthand how mismanaged renewables caused massive energy grid fluctuations (and waste).
His solution?
Build data centers that flex energy use in real-time while maximizing profitability.
When there’s excess power, IREN mines Bitcoin.
When the grid is stressed, IREN gives power back.
IREN's proprietary algorithm checks prices every 5 minutes therefore creating optimized, on-demand energy for both Bitcoin and AI workloads.
Said another way, there IREN always have 2 buyers for the same unit of energy generated.
3/ Low Cost Miner = Downside Hedge
Being the low-cost Bitcoin miners have a built-in downside hedge.
When Bitcoin’s price drops, high-cost miners get wiped out.
As a result, the global hashrate shrinks.
But since you are the low cost miner, your overall market share of the network grows.
In other words, you mine more Bitcoin at a lower cost.
This is unique to Bitcoin as compared to other commodities.
For example, in gold or copper mining, you don’t suddenly get to mine double when your competitors go under.
4/ The Physical Bottleneck
When Bitcoin’s price takes off, the network can’t scale overnight.
It takes billions of dollars, power contracts, hardware, and physical infrastructure to bring new hash rate online.
The last cycle?
It took 9 months for hashrate to catch up after the price had already peaked.
This supply lag creates explosive upside for miners already plugged in.
Bitcoin moves at light speed...but the machines don’t.
5/ More Diligence Needed
This video was made over a year ago and since then, IREN has made significant moves.
One major part of the interview that was not discussed was the AI side of their business.
IREN currently is still bucketed with other Bitcoin miners, which have significantly lagged Bitcoin and Bitcoin Treasury Companies.
But as many of my fellow X friends have told me, IREN is much more of an AI play than a Bitcoin play....
If you enjoyed this post, please like and retweet it for a fellow Bitcoiner!
As an ex-TradFi veteran who was recently featured in the WSJ, I create daily content on Bitcoin.
Follow me @BTCBullRider for similar content in the future!
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