TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast

Episode: From Residential Solar to Bitcoin Mining | Kent Halliburton, Center of Hash E010

Date: October 21, 2025
Host: Marty Bent
Guest: Kent Halliburton, Co-Founder & CEO of SaaS Mining

Overview

In this episode, Marty Bent sits down with Kent Halliburton, co-founder and CEO of SaaS Mining, to discuss Kent’s winding path from residential solar energy to Bitcoin mining, the fundamental connections between energy and bitcoin, and how SaaS Mining is bringing a fresh approach to the intersection of energy and decentralized finance. The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of Bitcoin mining, strategies for site selection, the economics of "wild sats," hardware acquisition, decentralization concerns, and the future opportunities for Bitcoiners in mining. This episode provides context-rich, first-hand perspectives for anyone looking to bridge renewable energy and Bitcoin or interested in the nuanced operation of mining businesses at a global scale.

Key Topics & Insights

Kent’s Background: From Solar to Bitcoin (01:25–04:28)

• Kent’s Energy Start:
  • Computer engineering in California
  • Passion for rooftop solar from 2005 to 2014
  • Ran sales software and post-acquisition integration for a major solar company
  • Competed with Elon Musk’s cousins in the solar industry
• Sabbatical & Discovery:
  • Took two-year sabbatical, traveling the world after leaving corporate
  • While in Portugal and Peru, discovered both his future wife and Bitcoin

“During that two year timeframe between 2014 and 2016, I fell in love with a portug and bitcoin. So my life restarted in Portugal in 2016.” — Kent Halliburton [03:13]

The Overlap Between Solar & Bitcoin Mining (04:28–06:15)

• Big Picture Parallels:
  • Both solar and bitcoin mining are decentralized, distributed, and disrupt traditional grids
  • Both are constrained by energy networks and see fast declining cost curves
• On Solar Integration:
  • Solar + batteries + Bitcoin mining = future of energy
  • Skeptical about large industrial solar farms, prefers distributed, rooftop installations

“Solar is the only way we can make electricity without moving anything.” — Kent Halliburton [05:09]

Kent’s Bitcoin Rabbit Hole (06:40–09:03)

• Initial Attraction:
  • First encountered Bitcoin in 2015 while struggling with cross-border payments during his travels
  • Read the white paper, immediately grasped value in frictionless, global transactions
• Journey to Bitcoin Maximalism:
  • Dabbled in altcoins but returned to Bitcoin after reading key literature and podcasts (The Bitcoin Standard, Breedlove-Saylor series, Jeff Booth’s "The Price of Tomorrow")
• Critical Takeaway:
  • Bitcoin as a global escape from fiat greed and monetary debasement

“This is the first time we have a way to escape that particular trap. And I think it’s a civilizational shift that we’re going through as a result.” — Kent Halliburton [08:44]

Bitcoin and Energy: An Inseparable Relationship (10:14–11:38)

• SATs/KwH — The New Metric:
  • Predicts “sats per kilowatt hour” will supplant traditional energy pricing metrics
  • Sees energy and bitcoin as “flip sides of the same coin”
  • Envisions kilowatt-hour as replacing the dollar per barrel as primary pricing denominator

“I actually think SATs per kilowatt hour is going to become a meaningful metric… you’re looking at kilowatt hour replacing the dollars per barrel metric over time as a result of this shift.” — Kent Halliburton [10:14]

Bitcoin Mining as Manufacturing (12:27–14:06)

• Bitcoin Mining = Manufacturing:
  • Breaks mining into supply chains: natural power source → power generation → site development → containers/infrastructure → operation
  • Output: Bitcoin in someone’s wallet; profit determined by input costs (mainly electricity)

“Bitcoin is a manufacturer. Mining is a manufacturing process. Manufacturing processes have supply chains.” — Kent Halliburton [12:27]

Site Selection & Global Approach (16:44–20:04)

• SaaS Mining Model:
  • Focuses on managing the customer relationship in mining, inspired by success of specialist companies in solar
  • Optimizes for trust; acts as ASIC custodian for clients
  • Business model: SaaS Mining earns only if clients mine Bitcoin (15% management fee paid out by pool)

“If we’re not successful, you’re not getting what you want and we’re not getting paid either.” — Kent Halliburton [19:23]

"Wild SATs" and Mining vs Buying Bitcoin (20:04–25:03)

• History & Philosophy:
  • Early Bitcoiners mined, not bought
  • Mining offers counterparty risk distinction and “wild sats” (non-KYC, self-mined coins)
  • Energy cost basis often means acquiring bitcoin below current market price (e.g., Ethiopia: $50k/bitcoin energy cost vs. market)
  • Hardware investment means long-term averaging (2-3 year ROI)
• Psychological Edge:
  • Receiving mined sats feels more “real” and avoids volatile point-of-purchase anxiety

“They’re wild sats, you know, so they’re—it is cypherpunk, right? You’re plugging in this hard, you’re obeying the rules of the network and the network is paying you for that service.” — Kent Halliburton [22:08]

Business & Site Economics: Hydro & Global Diversification (27:32–33:32)

• Mandate for Carbon-Free Power:
  • Only pursue mining sites at least 20% more carbon free than the BTC network average
• Hydro Power Preference:
  • Hydro offers consistent, reliable, low-carbon base power
• Site Vetting:
  • Focused on strong relationships with data center operators, requiring 6+ months due diligence for trust and reliability
• Geopolitical Risk:
  • Diversification across four continents (Paraguay, Ethiopia, Norway, USA) to mitigate regulatory, supply chain, and economic risk

“Having a seat at the table [in hydropower-rich countries] is just a wise thing to do.” — Kent Halliburton [31:51]

Real-World Impact: Mining & Local Grids (33:32–39:27)

• Paraguay Case Study:
  • Excess, subsidized hydro energy (due to oversupply/IMF contractual structure) used for Bitcoin mining
  • Repurposes what was a GDP drag into GDP growth and leaves behind infrastructure for other industries

“Bitcoin miners showing up there, helping to repatriate that electricity is actually an uplift on the entire GDP of the country.” — Kent Halliburton [34:23]

• Ethiopia Case Study:
  • Similar: excess hydro, state needs FX from selling energy to miners
  • Political frictions but long-term fundamentals favor mining
• Physical Reality of Mining:
  • Unexpected events impact uptime (beavers damaging dams, for example)
  • Hosting and hardware bring Bitcoin tangibly closer to physics; the ties that make Bitcoin "real"

Hosting Model & Alignment (49:55–56:15)

• SaaS Mining Approach:
  • Developed software for a year before launching, inspired by Web 2.0’s SaaS model
  • Revenue is solely the management fee, incentivizing only on customer mining success
  • 400+ customers, lean team (13 staff), highly automated via software

“If I build the right software, I’m not having to communicate all the time with all the customers. I’m transparently providing the information that they need so that their needs are met and then it becomes lightweight.” — Kent Halliburton [57:29]

• Decentralization by Design:
  • Each rig tied to specific customer (no pooling); radical transparency and individual ownership
• Comparing Large Miners to Hosting:
  • Large public miners have substantial G&A overhead, possible inefficiencies
  • Hosting allows for non-custodial, more decentralized, aligned incentive acquisition of hashrate

Mining Decentralization & Pool Centralization (68:24–83:26)

• Decentralizing Ownership:
  • Having 50–100 unique owners per data center complicates regulator intervention and decentralizes network control
  • Social layer of "bitcoiners who mine" is key to anti-centralization

“There’s no more protective social part of our fabric than the bitcoin miners. Bitcoiners that are mining, they have a tangible skin in the game relationship with their bitcoin acquisition that you just don’t have if you’re buying.” — Kent Halliburton [69:24]

• Pool Centralization Risks & Solutions:
  • Nearly half the network’s hashrate controlled by Antpool and Foundry
  • SaaS Mining uniquely structured a revenue share integration with Ocean pool to give miners more choice and transparency
• Notable Moment:
  • SaaS Mining’s customers found their first solo block through Ocean, milestone celebrated by the whole team and the individual customer

“I would say it’s analogous to the impact of when our clients mine their first bitcoin and they receive it in their wallet. There’s sort of a disbelief until that occurs. But it’s something similar I think our company went through. There’s sort of a disbelief that we actually were mining until, wow, that’s our block that we found.” — Kent Halliburton [80:09]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On The Visceral Reality of Mining:

  “Mining is where reality hits bitcoin... the fact that bitcoin is tied to the laws of physics, is the fundamental thing that actually makes it a viable form of money. Without that, it just would be another, another abstract crypto.” — Kent Halliburton [39:23]

• On Decentralization and Pool Selection:

  “We were the first to bring an Ocean integration to market... our rev share model is unique. We’re the only ones that I’ve seen in the space that have chosen to tie their fate to the output of their work, which is actually helping people produce bitcoin.” — Kent Halliburton [76:00]

• On Bitcoin Community and Building the Future:

  “You don’t fight the existing system, you just build a better system and people will move into it. And I believe that’s what we’re doing with Bitcoin, is we’re building this parallel system.” — Kent Halliburton [68:24]

Key Timestamps

• Kent’s Introduction & Background: 00:50–04:28
• Solar & Bitcoin Parallels: 04:28–06:15
• The Bitcoin Rabbit Hole: 06:40–09:03
• Bitcoin/Energy Integration: 10:14–11:38
• Bitcoin Mining Supply Chain: 12:27–14:06
• Selecting & Operating Sites: 16:44–20:04
• “Wild SATs” & Mining Explanation: 20:04–25:03
• Site Economics, Hydro & Diversification: 27:32–33:32
• Impact of Mining on Local Grids: 33:32–39:27
• SaaS Model & Automation: 49:55–56:15
• Customer Ownership Model: 60:55–61:42
• On Decentralization and Pool Centralization: 68:24–83:26
• Celebrating First Solo Block: 77:53–80:42

Conclusion

Kent Halliburton shares a multifaceted perspective on the intersection of renewable energy and Bitcoin, advocating for individual ownership, decentralized approaches, and the critical importance of socially-minded “bitcoin-first” operators in mining. The SaaS Mining model, with its focus on trust, customer alignment, and global hydro diversification, stands as a compelling model for the future—one that empowers individuals to mine, supports sustainable energy, and works to alleviate economic centralization within the Bitcoin network. Both practical and philosophical, this episode is a vital listen for anyone interested in the real-world mechanics and social fabric underpinning the next era of Bitcoin mining.

Find Kent:

• Twitter: @Halliburton (DMs open)
• Website: sazmining.com

Find Marty Bent:

• tftc.io