William Szamosszegi ama

 Will's bio

Q1: If I want to setup a basic ASIC farm with 20-40 miners, what's the most economical way to do that? I'm currently thinking a converted shipping container, but maybe that's not the best solution?

A:Power cost is the most talked-about factor in Miners' profitability. I'd also keep equipment longevity in mind as a major component. 

A simple solution is to find a good hosting partner who runs your miners. If you run them yourself, make sure you are able to maintain a proper environment.
Q2: What is the strangest mining rig you have ever seen?
Q3:  In 10 years, what do you believe mining will look like (more efficient coins with less need for large farms, major players only vs millions of desktops, etc.)?
A:I believe Bitcoin mining will move into the lowest-cost areas of the world with favorable jurisdictions. There will be many large industrial scale miners.
Favorable jurisdictions will be areas with favorable property rights (United states will grow in Market share)
Q4: Besides Bitcoin, what are the most profitable coins to mine (per coin maybe, not sure how that's figured)?
A:Our focus is Bitcoin, but we've mined ETH and Zcash in the past. There are opportunities with smaller market cap coins, but that has not been a focus of Sazmining. 
Some miners manage their Hash-rate like a fund -they mine coins that they think will appreciate in value.
Q5:@Will how do you think the incoming change in ethereum algorithm from POW to POS could affect mining industry (specially for the home miners) considering it has been the most profitable and it is the second more important coin in terms of mcap? do you consider this change will in some way "lead the way" in the market?
A:The Proposed change in the ETH protocol has been scaring Miners away from the ETH Asics for years. It has made the ETH mining opportunity more profitable. The change from PoW to PoS will make the ETH Asics obsolete.
The change from PoW to PoS is a big deal for ETH. I see BTC and ETH as serving different Addressable Markets. 
Bitcoin is an open monetary network, seen by many as a Store of Value. ETH is focused on Decentralized Applications. These require different protocols (PoW/PoS) on the base chain.
Q6:  In a world that's becoming more PoS-based, what's the use case for PoW? Is it still necessary?
It seems PoW networks are dealing with increased centralization due to the level of resources required to mine. Does this need to be mitigated or will large mining companies continue to dominate?
Assuming the ETH move to PoS happens Q1 next year, where does the hashing power go from all of those GPUs? I imagine some will go offline, but will the majority just switch to a new algo? If so, do you think there's one well-positioned to capture the majority of those THs?
A:PoS and PoW are both useful depending on the network's goals. For example, poW is great for tying real-world energy to digital value.
There are certainly large Miners that generate a large amount of Hash Power - it's also important to remember that Bitcoin's game theory protects the network. Each miner has an incentive to maintain the integrity of the Bitcoin network. An attack would require a tremendous amount of access to crypto-mining facilities, and that infrastructure is not available. 
I believe it would also be impossible for a nation-state to form a successful sustained attack because they would need to continuously maintain over 50% of the network. Miners can move their hash power to a different mining pool if there are any rumors of a proposed attack on the network.
Those GPUs will move towards the most profitable algo that do not utilize ASICs. I'm not sure what plays out with the distribution of that hash power.

Q7:Hi William, great to hear from you. I would like to ask, in your opinion, what is the one thing about crypto that almost everyone doesn't know/understands incorrectly?

A:Bitcoin Mining is the most ESG friendly business in the world. Bitcoin miners are 24/7 consumers of energy that can be placed near wasted power assets. Bitcoin Miners helps energy companies plan/control their demand - this brings in revenue to divest from coal and invest in renewable energy assets.
The mainstream media also overlooks the benefits of an open monetary network. This is the disruptive technology of our generation. Anyone in the world with an internet connection can plug into Bitcoin's open monetary network.
Q8 : Hi maybe a very stupid question but do you think Bitcoin would get GPU mining in the future? Do you see US company will start to move some of the chip and mining rig factor back to US ?
A:GPUs will never be competitive on the Bitcoin network because they are not efficient enough.
Most of the miners from the recent Chinese shut-down want to move to the US. There is not enough power infrastructure in the US so the Asics will move to many areas around the world.
Q9 : With China getting in the way of BT and other crypto’s, what if they start to discourage the manufacture of ASIC miners. Are there other (Asian) countries able to produce these?
A: The manufacturers will continue to utilize their IP and go to other countries to manufacture ASICs. I'm not sure which countries the manufacturers will select in that scenario.
Q10: Thailand want to become big in mining, will this be happening fast and be relevant?
A: Thailand has a huge opportunity with China's recent miner shutdown.
Q11: How is the government of Kazakhstan responding to miners moving there? Are these miners able to access green and abundant energy? Being that they are neighbors of China (and that they benefit from the one-belt-one-road project) is the country being seen at risk of strong-arming by China, especially since the miners are Chinese entrepreneurs?
A:. In my view, Kazakhstan is the 2nd largest beneficiary of the Chinese shutdown (US is 1st). 
The energy mix is primarily fossil fuels. 
There is much higher regulatory risk in Kazakhstan  for the reasons you mentioned.
Q13: With all the noise from Yellen/Warren etc, are there chances that mining in the USA is at risk? Does the USA gov’t have strong legal means of banning mining?
A: The US is the safest jurisdiction for mining. Even if there was a mandate to ban mining at the federal level, the states would challenge the ruling.
The US structure provides multiple levels of protection for miners.
States that welcome miners bring in tremendous economic activity. Energy companies, grid stability, and local communities benefit from miners.
Q14: How does your company spread risk in legal jurisdictions? How is the Canadian government responding to mining ops? Is a US state (like Texas) when choosing to be pro-crypto, able to go against federal legal action?
A: We look to form strong relationships at the local level when evaluating a new location. 
Canada has pursued a "hands-off approach to mining", for the time-being. However, "Hydro-Quebec" recently put limits on mining in their province.
Texas is a great place for Mining - there is local government support.
Q15: What do you think of Chia coin's way to mine with proof of space? Does this coin have a future?
A:My knowledge on Chia is limited, but I know a couple miners who have participated in the "farming" for Chia. 
Chia has an interesting algo with proof of space. Time will tell how the Developers deliver on deploying successful applications.
Q15: Michael Saylor mentioned that mining can be an excellent way to balance the grid by only switching miners on when other demand is low. Is this something that can be easily implemented? Because it means that you loose ‘production hours’, you would have to receive incentives/compensation for it, correct?
A:Great question!
Yes, this is a good strategy for industrial-scale miners who are grid-connected. 
You can think of this strategy as "Demand response" or "load-shedding".
There are certain hours of the day/year where there is tremendous energy demand - miners can shut down their ASICs to contribute their electrical capacity to the grid. 
Miners are compensated for shutting down and can lower their electric bill by agreeing to shut down during specific "high-energy-demand" periods.
These terms are negotiated in the PPA (power purchase agreement).