The Energy Three-Body Solution
Bitcoin mining grows the energy system beyond current limits
Why discuss energy in a newsletter about currency and power? Because the three concepts have become inseparable. Proof-of-work mining converts electricity into cryptographic security. In other words, miners burn energy to validate transactions and protect the network, and the more energy invested, the more secure the network becomes. Elon Musk himself recently stated that “Bitcoin is energy”, a framing which highlights how Bitcoin essentially stores energy in digital form, transforming electricity into a portable, verifiable asset. And so bringing Bitcoin into the energy discussion matters because Bitcoin’s consumption affects energy markets, influences renewable energy investments, and raises questions about tradeoffs between security and sustainability. Energy defines what Bitcoin fundamentally is.
Understanding this energy-Bitcoin relationship becomes urgent as our appetite for energy seems infinite and is about to explode. AI datacenters need constant, large, uninterruptible power near population centers. A single training run for a large language model can consume 50 GWh—enough to power 5,000 homes for a year. These facilities require 100% uptime; even millisecond interruptions can corrupt weeks of computation worth millions of dollars.
The location requirements are inflexible. You might think datacentres are like factories or warehouses, able to move to cheap land far from cities. In reality, AI datacentres must sit near population centres for low-latency inference, near universities to hire staff, and near existing internet links for bandwidth. They simply cannot move to remote areas with cheap power like older industries. As a result, they put heavy pressure on the grid at peak times and push up costs for everyone. When an afternoon heatwave strains the grid, AI datacentres still draw their full load.
As a result, the whole game has moved to another level in terms of energy use and strain on the power grid. Microsoft has struck a deal with the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Google plans small modular reactors. Amazon is building a nuclear campus. Tech firms now hunt for gigawatts of power that never switch off. By 2030, AI data centres could use 1,000 TWh a year worldwide, about the same as Japan’s total electricity use. As Azeem Azhar recently (half-)joked, you may soon not be able to run a software company “without owning your own nuclear power station”.
And so, here’s the thing: in an age where AI is here to stay and even contributes to strategic superiority, countries urgently need a massive, scalable energy infrastructure. The question is: how do we design and operate it sustainably?
The Current Two-Body System
For decades, many grids have relied on a relatively stable system: constant baseload power from sources like nuclear, coal, or hydro, while renewables, along with flexible gas and hydro, handle variable demand. This balance, while complex, has remained manageable. Grid operators can model it, predict it, and optimize it.
Nuclear plants, in particular, run continuously at 90% capacity. Meanwhile, solar and wind fill demand peaks when available. The system works within tight constraints:
Nuclear struggles for profitability during low-demand periods
Excess renewable generation gets curtailed—simply wasted—when supply exceeds demand
Renewables face financing limits because overbuilding means more curtailment
Like Newton’s two-body problem in physics, this system is predictable but limited. It cannot scale to meet our exponential energy needs without fundamental change.
Bitcoin: The Third Body That Changes Everything
Bitcoin mining shatters this equilibrium in precisely the way a third planet disrupts a stable binary orbit. Our thesis is that it will eventually become the economic stabilizer that makes massive clean energy deployment viable.
Bitcoin mining consumes 170-198 TWh annually, performing 1.2 sextillion calculations every second. This energy creates thermodynamic truth. You cannot fake the kilowatt-hours required to mine Bitcoin. As a result, Bitcoin is the rare unforgeable asset in an era of deepfakes and unlimited monetary expansion.
But here’s the critical difference: Bitcoin miners thrive on the energy nobody else wants—stranded gas in North Dakota, curtailed solar in California, excess hydro in Quebec. Unlike AI datacenters that demand prime grid locations and constant power, Bitcoin miners are perfectly happy to set up anywhere power is cheap and unused. They can consume anywhere from zero to hundreds of megawatts, adjusting consumption in seconds. When the grid needs power for air conditioning during a heatwave, miners can shut off instantly—which AI data centres cannot, because they must maintain continuous service.
This flexibility monetizes energy that would otherwise be wasted, creating an economic floor for electricity prices:
Nuclear plants gain a buyer for off-peak power, improving economics. Reactors can continue running at full capacity at night, earning revenue from power that would otherwise have limited demand.
Renewable developers can overbuild, knowing excess capacity has value. Solar and wind farms can generate beyond immediate demand and still be profitable, rather than curtailing output.
Grid operators gain a massive demand-response tool that actually helps rather than hinders grid stability. Unlike uncoordinated or slow-acting demand-response programs that can create swings and stress the grid, miners can instantly adjust load in sync with grid needs.
Texas already proves the model: miners monetize West Texas wind power that would otherwise be curtailed, then power down during heat waves to free capacity for air conditioning. In 2023, Texas Bitcoin miners freed up 2,000 MW during critical grid moments—equivalent to powering 400,000 homes when most needed.
The Strategic Imperative
The strategic importance becomes clear when examining global positioning. China banned Bitcoin mining in 2021, yet Chinese miners still control 14.1% of global hashrate—145 EH (exahashes) of computational power humming away in secret facilities. Why would China risk undermining its own ban? Because, as it’s building the world’s first Electrostate, it recognizes that mastering this energy three-body problem determines who controls the infrastructure of the future.
The US dominates with 37.84% of global hashrate. Russia views its 160 EH/s as sanctions-proof wealth generation. Meanwhile, Europe maintains just 13.37% while desperately courting AI datacenters that will consume five times more uninterruptible power.
Countries are already implementing this strategy:
Zambia uses excess hydroelectric capacity to mine Bitcoin, subsidizing domestic energy costs while building infrastructure for future AI datacenters. The revenue from mining helps fund grid improvements that will eventually support more demanding applications.
Bhutan transforms Himalayan hydropower into digital reserves. The country has built a sovereign Bitcoin treasury by monetising seasonal water flows that previously had limited economic value beyond domestic consumption.
Hybrid datacenters switch between mining Bitcoin when energy is cheap and running AI when demand spikes. This dual-use model allows operators to maintain profitability across different market conditions whilst providing grid operators with predictable, controllable load.
The New Equilibrium
Adding Bitcoin as the third body expands what’s possible. Like gravitational Lagrange points where three celestial bodies find perfect balance, the energy three-body problem creates its own stability points:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Currency of Power to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.