The West Texas Loophole Bitcoin Miners Are Exploiting w/ Chris Alfano
Show Notes
🔗 Chris Alfano:
Website: https://360energyco.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-alfano-a195a058/
X (Twitter): https://x.com/chrisallfano
In this episode of HashrateUp, Jesse sits down with Chris Alfano, CEO of 360 Energy, to break down one of the most overlooked power cost advantages in Bitcoin mining: negative-priced natural gas in West Texas.
Chris explains why the Waha Hub has traded at negative prices 70% of the time over the last three years, what's driving that structural imbalance in the Permian Basin, and how Bitcoin miners can co-locate at stranded gas sites to access energy costs that go below zero. The conversation covers 360 Energy's origin story, two and a half years of off-grid R&D, their APEX gas offtake model, and the contrarian case for deploying into Bitcoin mining right now while the rest of the industry pivots to AI.
Whether you're an operator looking for your next marginal cost of power or a miner sitting on older-generation ASICs wondering where to redeploy them, this episode lays out a concrete playbook for mining profitably in a low hash price environment.
0:00 Introduction & 360 Energy background
7:00 Raising $6M in 2021 and the school of hard knocks
15:51 The AI pivot and the contrarian case for Bitcoin mining
22:00 Why West Texas gas trades negative: Permian Basin explained
28:24 $1,800/day revenue per 1.2 MW just for consuming gas
35:48 ASIC redeployment: off-grid sites as a hospice for older miners
43:13 Scale, service model, and rapid fire questions
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