Daniel Batten, an independent Bitcoin and energy researcher, shared a thread on X today arguing that Bitcoin mining may show value through energy grids before many people fully understand Bitcoin as money. His point is simple enough: power problems are easy to see, while financial problems can stay hidden for years.
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin mining uses electricity to secure Bitcoin and add new blocks to the blockchain.
- A flexible load means electricity demand that can rise or fall quickly.
- Batten says miners can use surplus power and shut down fast when grids need support.
Energy Failure Is Hard to Hide
Batten started with a direct comparison between money and electricity.
“When a financial system fails, it can be disguised for years,” he wrote. “When a grid fails, everyone knows.”
That line helps explain why he thinks the energy side of Bitcoin gets too little attention. A banking or monetary crisis can hide behind bailouts, slow policy decisions, and confusing language. A power grid failure hits daily life right away. Lights go out. Trains stop. Shops close. Phones start dying.
Batten used the April 28, 2025 blackout in Spain and Portugal as an example. He wrote that “60 million people were in the darkness in minutes: root cause identified in months.”
Then he compared it with the 2008 financial crisis, saying it “nearly ended the global monetary system” while many people still do not know what really happened 18 years later.
This idea may feel a little different from the usual Bitcoin conversation. We usually talk about Bitcoin as money outside central banks. Batten thinks power grids may give people a more direct way to understand why Bitcoin has value.
“Therefore the world encounters visceral, undeniable proof of Bitcoin’s value through energy before it encounters it through money,” he wrote.
Why Bitcoin Miners Can Help With Surplus Power
Electricity demand keeps rising, and AI data centers add more strain. Batten pointed to International Energy Agency projections that AI data centers could double electricity consumption to nearly 950 TWh by 2030. A TWh, or terawatt-hour, is a large unit used to measure energy use across countries and big industries.
At the same time, Europe has a large backlog of renewable power waiting to connect. Batten said European grids already have 1,700 GW of renewables stuck in connection queues. A GW, or gigawatt, measures power capacity. In plain language, plenty of wind and solar projects want grid access, but grid upgrades may not arrive fast enough.
That is where Batten sees a use case for Bitcoin mining.
“The fastest flexible-load technology on Earth is Bitcoin mining – absorbs surplus power and releases it to the grid in seconds,” he wrote.
A flexible load is a power user that can quickly change how much electricity it uses. Bitcoin miners can often turn machines off in seconds when homes, hospitals, factories, or other users need power. They can also turn machines back on when extra wind, solar, or other electricity would otherwise go unused.
That flexibility matters because renewable power does not always match demand. Solar output rises in the daytime. Wind can produce more at odd hours. Sometimes grids have too much power in one place and not enough somewhere else. A miner can act like an adjustable buyer, taking power when supply runs high and cutting use when the grid needs room.
However, not every mining site helps. Poorly placed mining can still strain a grid. The benefit depends on location, energy source, timing, and agreements with grid operators.
Why Mining May Follow the Same Path as GPUs
Batten also used GPUs as a comparison. GPUs are computer chips that were first built for graphics, especially gaming and visual work. Later, AI turned them into key infrastructure for machine learning.
“GPUs were built for graphics. AI was the accidental later use case that made them essential to the world’s infrastructure,” he wrote.
He then applied the same idea to Bitcoin mining.
“Bitcoin was built for money. Energy grid stabilisation is the accidental use case that will make mining essential to the world’s grids.”
For beginners, that means Bitcoin mining may have two stories running side by side. One story covers money, savings, scarcity, and the 21 million BTC supply limit. The other covers energy, grid balancing, surplus power, and flexible demand.
Batten said he has spent two years with European mining companies. He views high energy costs in Europe as “a living preview of where Bitcoin mining is headed worldwide.” In other words, miners may need to get smarter about when they run, where they operate, and how they work with power markets.
That could change how people judge mining. A miner using cheap wasted power at the right time creates a very different grid effect from a miner running during peak demand in a tight power market.
The Bitcoin Energy Debate Is Still Small
Most people still talk about Bitcoin through price, inflation, saving, ETFs, and long-term money. Batten says energy gets only a tiny share of the conversation.
“~97% of Bitcoin discourse is about the monetary case. Around 3% is about energy,” he wrote.
It is split explains why mining debates often feel one-sided. Critics often focus only on electricity use. Supporters often focus only on monetary freedom. The more useful question is where the power comes from, when miners use it, and whether they can shut down when the grid needs help.
Batten described the gap as one of the biggest undercovered topics in Bitcoin.
“The gap between how important this is and how much attention it gets may be the largest asymmetry in Bitcoin right now,” he wrote.
He added, “The world is going to close that gap, fast.”