Mentor Sessions Ep. 083: Bob Burnett explains the Bitcoin hash rate decline, BIP-110 chain split, nation state mining, and why banks will mine block space.
Bitcoin's hash rate has been declining for nearly a year for the first time in 16 years — and Bob Burnett of Barefoot Mining explains why it keeps falling straight through the next halving. This is the mining reset almost nobody is pricing in.
In this conversation you'll learn why the big publicly traded miners quietly shed Bitcoin and pivoted to AI and data centers, why Bob believes financial institutions and nation states (Iran included) are the real next entrants — not energy companies — and why they'll mine for block space control rather than the coins themselves. You'll see how the BIP-110 (RDTS) activation at block 961632 in mid-August could trigger a chain split, exactly what miners and plebs should do before that block, and why the fight is really about Core's process and the SegWit discount, not just spam. Bob also breaks down the miner's trilemma, virgin Bitcoin premiums, and why the depths of despair is historically the best time to enter mining.
⏱️ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:11 - Harsh reality of Bitcoin mining in 2026
1:46 - Meet Bob Burnett of Barefoot Mining
2:00 - First year of falling hash rate
2:52 - Why hash rate drops through the halving
4:29 - Current-gen miners sold for pennies
8:18 - The miner's trilemma: energy, machines, capital
11:25 - Easy capital drove public miner overbuild
13:39 - Invasive apex predator wrecking the ecosystem
14:50 - Why public miners' production costs are broken
17:12 - Is the public mining model sustainable?
21:43 - Barefoot mines on sub-3-cent self-produced power
29:49 - Building a mining business that survives forever
31:39 - Enter mining in the depths of despair
34:14 - Is falling hash rate a network security threat?
35:36 - Could a bad actor mount a 51% attack now?
37:44 - Why Bitcoin can't balance the world's power grid
42:44 - Activists turning rural towns against miners
1:00:11 - Financial institutions and nation states enter next cycle
1:01:36 - Banks will mine for block space, not coins
1:07:42 - Why institutions will control block templates
1:08:26 - Nation state mining and economic sovereignty
1:09:20 - Is Iran already solo mining Bitcoin?
1:14:00 - The death of full-pay-per-share and virgin Bitcoin
1:17:33 - BIP-110 explained: what problem it solves
1:18:28 - Core v30 policy change that sparked the fight
1:29:11 - RDTS: the reduce-data temporary soft fork
1:31:14 - The SegWit discount and CSAM concerns
1:31:48 - Activation at block 961632 and chain split risk
1:44:19 - Advice for plebs before the split
1:46:15 - Advice for miners: get a backup pool ready
1:50:28 - The 99% best case vs the really bad scenario
1:52:53 - Where to find Bob and Barefoot Mining
🔗 Links & Resources:
Barefoot Mining: https://barefootmining.com
Bob on X: https://x.com/Boomer_BTC
BTC Sessions: https://btcsessions.ca
BTC Sessions Dashboard: https://btcsessions.live/
Sovereign Sessions — AI, Privacy, and Bitcoin education: http://youtube.com/@SovereignSessions?sub_confirmation=1
💡BOOK Private Sessions with Nathan, Benn and the BTC Mentor Team: Master self-custody, hardware, multisig, Lightning, privacy, and more.
👉 Visit btcmentor.io
📌 Previous Episodes:
Matt Hill & Odell → https://youtu.be/cOQC81hLSu0
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