My first foray into mining was sometime in late 2011/2012. At that time Bitcoin Core had mining functionality and mining on a PC was relatively simple. I didn’t take the time to truly understand Bitcoin then. Me being an intensely paranoid individual was distrusting of this software using my computer’s GPU to …um..hmm what was it doing? Something about a “nonce”. I didn’t read the white paper and didn’t join any chat rooms or social networks to connect with others involved in Bitcoin. I regrettably uninstalled the software not to return to Bitcoin until 2017 and not to mine again until 2019, couldn’t even tell you if I am responsible for some orphaned Bitcoin. In those 8 years we had 3 kids but let something like 450,000 block slip past me. That’s okay, I don’t cry myself to sleep every night because of regret, anymore. I have a nice mining setup now and I don’t consider it healthy the live a life of regret.

I can reflect though. Perhaps I should have joined one of those Bitcoin Nerd channels. I never had social media before Twitter, maybe I should’ve or at the very least done my research. So, what’s my point here? As the poet, John Donne wrote, “No Man is an Island, Entire of Itself. Every man is a piece of the continent. A part of the main.” And although I don’t live my life regretting past decisions, I can learn from them. It wasn’t until I left that island or at least connected it to the main, that I learned the true nature of Bitcoin and its unique properties. It wasn’t until I began to research and read articles written by so many hard-working Plebs who were willing to pass on the torch of knowledge to others that I finally understood this technology we reverence. And it wasn’t until further study that I realized my place within it, was mining. By then the S9 was a couple of years old and it wasn’t difficult to find one. I learned a lot over the next few of years about mining. I quite enjoyed the experience and by 2021 I had 6 S9s running in my garage. Like many at that time, I saw the China exodus as a good time to upgrade my setup. Now what to do with those S9s I had laying around? I suppose I could have sold them, but I was busy tinkering with my home heating projects and working… and of course, numbing my mind by bullshitting with all of you on Twitter.

I decided I’m going to give some machines away. I gave 2 S9s to my partner at work. I have been orange pilling him for years and he thought it would be fun to dip his toes into mining, the heat reuse case was a big draw for him. The joy I felt when he showed me his mining setup was exciting. It was the perfect situation for him, a mechanic and a farmer, mining suited his skill set. I later sent a machine to a friend in Texas that was at risk of losing his job over vax mandates and I thought maybe the machine could help him out. That’s about the time I became more vocal on Twitter and the Telegram groups… and began answering simple home-mining questions. I prefer to just communicate on DM’s regarding mining rather than wade through the string of backlogged Telegram messages. In discussions with Plebs, I always felt myself saying, “well I’ll send you an S9 and you can mess around with it and find out if you like home mining or have an interest in it.” “Then once you learn you can send it back or because shipping is so much just hand it off to someone else.” I’m not unique in this, I’ve seen the generosity in the mining community, truly some of the best people are in mining, especially Pleb Miners.

I had the idea to call it “HashTheTorch”, seemed like a fun name for what everyone was doing. I gave another S9 away to a buddy of mine who is a machinist and was helping me out with my immersion project. This HashingTheTorch is fun. I saw Barnminer making strides in the same direction as well with his S9 lending program at local meetups, which certainly solves the shipping dilemma. It kind of all hit me at that point, The No Man is an Island concept, the connected decentralized network concept, the Plebs helping Plebs idea. Don’t let someone just up and quit on Bitcoin without understanding it as I did over a decade ago. HashTheTorch of knowledge, HashTheTorch are these machines that don’t mean much to us beyond being able to offload them for a few bucks or holding for whatever reason.

Max BitBuyBit and I came up with an idea we called Pleb Miner Month in Summer of 2022, it was just supposed to be a few pods with cool Pleb Miners, a few Bitesize Bitcoins, and FUD Buster segments on the then BitBuyBit Podcast (now Ungovernable Misfits Podcast), and a couple of articles on UngovernableMisfits.com to give Plebs another resource to get into mining. That project morphed into what it is today, a thriving community of Pleb Miners in the Pleb Miner Mafia and Ungovernable Misfits communities. A podcast on Ungovernable Misfits Podcast that has been one of the most fun and rewarding experiences of my life and the iconic skull that is our sybol (you know the one, with the fan in the head, the tongue out, and a mohawk that says “PLEB MINER”) One of the biggest surprises, (though I shouldn’t be surprised given the quality of Plebs in the mining community) was the outpouring of support from other miners who were already hashing the torch and are now doing it at such a high level. My good friend and brother from another mother Chet has bought and repaired so many machines for the purpose of Hashing the Torch it amazes me, he even invites people to visit his mine to help repair the machines, offering his time and talents to teach others. Barnminer and Altair have recently been Hashing the Torch with a 120V Urlacher build in partnership with https://lod.io/ they gave one away at Mining Disrupt ‘24. Read their blog https://altairtech.io/hash-the-torch-urlacher-style-by-altairtech/ to find out more or buy your own. Be sure to use promo code: UNGOVERNABLE whenever you buy gear from Altair as you get a 1% discount and it helps us with the show. https://altairtech.io/aff/35/

Many miners are passionate about Hashing the Torch because, well. Misery loves company I guess, but also to ensure that Plebs don’t feel like they’re on an island, like I once was That those blocks are just as much at play for a small time Pleb as they are for large institutional miners (good luck). That whatever regret they had in their mining journey doesn’t have to be a regret for someone new to it. They know if they HashTheTorch that they may be giving a machine to the next Pleb Miner innovator. And who knows what innovations and rabbit holes those new miners will discover?

So I’m putting out the bat signal Pleb Miners. Go to a meetup with your old machines. Orange pill that mechanic or machinist buddy or yours. Unload that knowledge you have in your dome and teach your kids and grandkids the value of decentralizing the network through Pleb Mining. HashTheTorch Plebs. And to all of the Plebs who have been gifted with knowledge, time, and gear, learn on that machine, experiment with different settings, firmware, and pools, etc. Find uses for the waste heat or perhaps find alternative sources of energy to run your machine. Follow along with our for real deal solo mining node build in collaboration between Urban Hacker and I and the Demand Pool team. (please try it out and let us know what you think….and find the bugs if there are any :)) https://urbanhacker.net/stratum-v2-in-a-box-the-easy-way/ then, do as the Pleb Miner that gifted you that ASIC, that knowledge…. And…#HashTheTorch