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The future is not set.
Alright, so...
Welcome to the Bitcoin Village.
We're going to be talking today at CypherCon about the Geohashing Project.
My name is Scott Offord and I'm with the Geohashing Project.
Geohashing is a part of the OpenHash Foundation.
And the goal and mission really of the OpenHash Foundation is to decentralize and open source Bitcoin mining.
The Geohashing Project is a project with Nathan England as a contributor and myself.
And what we're trying to do here is gamify Bitcoin mining.
And make Bitcoin mining fun and easy to learn.
So a little bit about OpenHash Foundation and Geohashing.
So like I said, decentralization is important in Bitcoin mining.
And what we're trying to do is promote that through getting people up and running on smaller scales throughout the world.
There is a threat to Bitcoin centralization.
Because a lot of large companies these days are consolidating their hash power in warehouses and large factories around the world.
And anything that we could do to decentralize that and get more hash power into more people's hands around the world, the better.
So through OpenHash and the Geohashing Project, we're aiming to do that through this non-profit organization effort.
So a big part of the Geohashing Project is education.
And we do that through our hands-on experiences.
So we try to make Bitcoin mining very tangible and easy to access to beginners in the Bitcoin and mining space.
So education is a big part of this.
And we've actually developed workshops that can complement other educational efforts to help people go from being a newbie at Bitcoin to now understanding more deeply about Bitcoin mining and the whole world of that.
So the Geohashing Project is a fun game, like I said.
It's kind of like Bitcoin meets geocaching meets capture the flag meets Pokemon Go.
So we're trying to make this an interactive experience to help people learn about Bitcoin mining.
So what this really does is it empowers people to participate in the Bitcoin network through the game and through education.
So we're really trying to inspire individuals to get involved in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Like I said earlier, it is an open source project.
And anything that we develop is being contributed back to the Bitcoin community in an open source manner that can then be iterated on later.
So I have a quick video here to share.
And it's just going to quickly explain the Geohashing game concept that we're working to develop.
The world is changing.
Bitcoin mining is no longer just for large data centers hidden in remote locations.
It's coming to your city.
And now you have a chance to take control.
Welcome to Geohashing, where real world locations become Bitcoin mining battle zones.
Compete, control, and capture hash power.
Across the city, hidden in plain sight are Geohash miners.
Small, powerful Bitcoin mining devices.
Your mission?
Find them.
Control them.
Step 1.
Locate an active Geohash miner using the interactive map.
Step 2.
Connect to the miner.
Each device has a dynamic control panel where you can claim control by entering your Bitcoin wallet address.
Step 3.
Hold your ground.
The longer you control the miner, the greater your rewards.
Step 4.
Battle for blocks.
If a miner under your control finds a Bitcoin block, you'll receive a major payout.
But remember, rewards are split between the host, the deployer, and the controller.
And that's just the beginning.
Want to take it to the next level?
Join a faction.
Group up with other miners in your city to dominate the leaderboard.
The top-ranking faction every month earns special bonuses and mining perks.
In the world of Geohashing, mining isn't just a game.
It's a mission.
Hash power is your weapon.
The city is your battlefield.
Will you rise or will you be left behind?
Okay.
So there you go.
The world is changing.
Bitcoin mining is no longer just a game.
Get to the next slide.
Yeah, so that's just a little explanation about how the game works.
And I'll get a little bit more deep into that after this.
So yeah, you know, Bitcoin mining, as many already know, is proof of work.
And proof of work is really comprised of a timestamp and the actual proof of work.
So we have Bitcoin miners that are working through hashing an algorithm and trying to guess the magic number every 10 minutes.
And that, put together with a timestamp, is Bitcoin on the blockchain network.
So a little bit more about Bitcoin and proof of work.
So there is Bitcoin, obviously, like we've been talking about today at CypherCon.
It's a decentralized digital money created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the infamous pseudonym, back in 2009.
So when it really comes to proof of work, really, like I said, it is the miners, the ASIC machines that are solving a cryptographic puzzle every 10 minutes to validate the block.
And decentralization, the reason why that's important is because it does prevent any single point of failure and control.
And it enhances security and it makes it censorship resistant when Bitcoin mining is done in a decentralized manner.
So to understand Bitcoin and mining, you first need to have an understanding of Bitcoin wallets and how the money is actually stored and transferred.
So just some basics about Bitcoin wallets.
Some terminology you might need to know is there's such thing as a hot wallet, a cold wallet.
Some are either online and connected to other things, which is more convenient but less secure.
And a thing like a cold wallet, the great thing about that is it's usually air-gapped and it's a lot more secure.
And sometimes it will involve multi-factor authentication.
So maybe you might have to have a second person or a third person sign off on a transaction that's coming out of your wallet.
So just be aware that there are different types of wallets out there.
One of the wallets that we do recommend is a ledger.
It's a hardware device or a Trezor.
And then another one that's actually open source is called SeedSigner.
So those are examples of some recommended hardware wallets that you can actually hold in your hand.
Some of these other wallets that are out there are software wallets that you can have on your phone or your computer or even on a card.
So one important thing about a Bitcoin wallet is making sure that you secure your seed phrase.
You don't want to write it down somewhere where somebody else can see it or take it.
And you definitely don't want to be taking screenshots of it and storing that on your computer.
It will be very easy for somebody that has a lot of technical know-how to come in and steal your seed phrase, which means they have direct access to drain your own wallets.
So make sure that you're securing your seed phrase and make sure that you are keeping that durable somehow.
So an example of keeping your Bitcoin wallet seed phrase in a durable solution is using a product like SeedPlate or CypherWheel.
Instead of just writing it down on a piece of paper, you can store your seed phrase in metal and you can actually stamp it into metal and maybe put that into a safe.
So to understand Bitcoin mining, you need to understand the progression that it's gone through over the years.
Back in 2009, when Bitcoin was first released, it actually used CPUs, so just a regular computer or a laptop.
And very shortly after that, the developers separated the code so that the mining function is a separate function from the Bitcoin core.
So now that introduced the era of GPUs, where mining Bitcoin took place on GPUs instead of the CPUs.
And then from there, it very quickly went to FPGA.
And then now the standard is ASIC.
So there are actually manufacturers who are very, very efficient and good at making ASIC chips that the only function that they do is hash the SHA-256 algorithm.
And it's become very, very competitive.
So now GPUs and CPUs and even FPGAs can't keep up.
And now with Bitcoin specifically, it's only done really on ASIC miners.
So you can see the progression over time as the technology has improved and become more efficient.
In this chart, it shows that back when Bitcoin was being mined on a CPU, it was around 5 million joules per tera hash.
Now, these days, we're talking under 1,000 joules per tera hash.
And even this year in 2025, we're getting close to...
the chips are only consuming around 15 joules per tera hash.
And the machines, the ASIC machines are running around 200, 400, even 500 tera hash per machine.
Yeah, so we just walked through the evolution from CPU all the way up to ASIC to present.
And like I said, really, the thing that made the old CPUs and GPUs obsolete was efficiency.
So there is an arms race for efficiency because if you use less power, you're going to be making more Bitcoin and being able to keep more of it because you're spending less on power.
So now we'll get into a little bit of the hardware that Bitcoin is run on.
And as you can see on the screen here, this is a Bit-Axe.
A Bit-Axe is a single ASIC miner.
It's good for home mining.
So people who are first getting into Bitcoin might like to use a Bit-Axe.
It's very inexpensive to get into.
It does not consume much power.
And it's really fun just to try to configure, try to figure out how to enhance it and make it better.
Maybe you could swap out the fan that comes with it and add a better, more efficient or stronger fan.
And there's some really fun things that you could do with it just from an educational standpoint.
Really easy to just buy, plug in anywhere and start hashing almost instantly.
So with these Bit-Axe miners, these single ASIC miners, there are a few components to it.
Obviously there's the hardware, the actual physical PCB itself and the ASIC and the fan that's on it as well as the screen, the LED screen.
Another component is the firmware.
So the software portion on a Bit-Axe actually runs on AxeOS firmware.
So it's very easy to set up.
It's configurable with Wi-Fi.
Typically with Bitcoin miners, they are connected through the Ethernet port.
But with a Bit-Axe miner, the convenience is that it actually does run off of Wi-Fi connectivity.
So setup is pretty easy.
Like I said, you have the hardware component.
You can assemble it yourself or you can buy them pre-made.
And it's very easy to configure.
So you just log in, find the IP address of the Bit-Axe device and look for that on your phone or your laptop.
And then you can log into it and as soon as you find that page, it will open up in your browser or on your phone.
And you'll be able to log in there and put in your Bitcoin wallet setting and configure the pool so that the miner will be actually hashing to your own wallet.
Which brings me to geohashing.
So the concept that we introduced earlier was that geohashing is a mix of geocaching, capture the flag, and Pokemon Go all kind of mixed up in one.
And we'll get into a little bit more about how we're using this in an educational format to really teach people how Bitcoin mining works.
So we're making it fun by helping people to interact with other Bitcoiners and try to get to the top of the leaderboard.
So geohashing gameplay is really all about treasure hunt.
So it's a real world treasure hunt where you're combining exploration, physical exploration.
You're going out and looking at different locations and trying to find this miner with the goal in mind to try to take it over and get it to hash to your own wallet instead of somebody else's wallet.
So something to remember with geohashing is there are the different roles as you saw in the first video.
So the person that is controlling that miner at any given time could receive up to 50% of the Bitcoin rewards that the miner is hashing towards.
And then the host, the company or the co-working center or maybe a cafe might receive the 25% payout because they are the host.
And then the person that actually bought the miner and set it up at the cafe or co-working center would receive 25% of the reward as well.
So really what you're doing is you're competing.
It's a game and it's a dynamic game because at any given time anyone can control the hash rate.
So it's easy to do.
You just walk up to the miner.
There might be a QR code there.
You scan it.
And it will give you instructions on how to find the miner on the local Wi-Fi IP address on the network.
And then you log into it.
You configure the miner to run to your own wallet instead of somebody else's wallet.
And then you're off and mining.
So I have another video here that dives a little bit deeper into the geohashing gameplay and explains some of the rules and some of the configurations.
So you'll actually see how some of this works more on the deeper level.
Bitcoin mining isn't just for giant data centers.
It's here in your city.
Welcome to geohashing, the real-world game where you capture mining hotspots, control the hash and earn rewards in Bitcoin.
First, you need a Nostr account to verify and track your mining activity.
If you don't have one, create it.
If you do, sign in and get ready to own the hash.
Open the geohashing map.
Look for active mining hotspots, cafes, co-working spaces, bookstores.
Found one nearby?
Time to move.
Once you arrive, find the geohash miner.
It could be anywhere, by the counter, on a bookshelf, near the Wi-Fi router.
Found it?
Scan the QR code to take control.
Welcome to the AxeOS dashboard.
This is where the magic happens.
Enter your Bitcoin wallet address.
This ensures any mining rewards flow directly to you.
You can use Moon Wallet, Wallet of Satoshi or any Lightning-compatible Bitcoin wallet.
You're in.
The miner is hashing.
Check the stats.
Hash rate, uptime, mining pool connection.
You're officially mining Bitcoin and racking in rewards.
But be warned, you're not the only one hunting these miners.
Others can knock you out by updating the wallet.
So stay vigilant, check the map and reclaim your hash.
Your hash, your rewards.
The longer you stay in control, the more points you earn.
Redeem the rewards for prizes like Bitcoin conference tickets, geohashing swag or Bitcoin mining machines.
And with each block, remember, there's always a small chance to win a massive Bitcoin payout.
Victory.
You own the hash.
You earned a reward.
And you just became part of the most decentralized mining network in the world.
Find a geohash miner.
Take control.
Own the hash.
The future of Bitcoin mining is here.
Are you ready?
Awesome.
Yeah, so that's a little bit more about the geohashing gameplay.
And like I was saying earlier, it is really about community.
So it gives you the opportunity to participate in Bitcoin mining as a community with friends.
In your local community and even all over the world.
So really, some of these community aspects and engagement comes down to the rewards that you can get from playing.
Like I said, the controller and the host and the deployer each have the potential of getting a reward.
So that benefits everybody that participates.
And really with the awareness, this is a great tool for bringing Bitcoin awareness.
When it's in a cafe or in a co-working center or a nightclub, people are getting exposed to Bitcoin.
And it just really encourages local businesses and community members to participate.
Talking about the benefits, there are great benefits from an educational outreach standpoint and local Bitcoin adoption.
So what we're trying to do is get more companies and more individuals to use Bitcoin on a daily basis.
And we're hoping that through geohashing, we'll be able to accomplish that.
So when we're talking about Bitcoin mining, we need to understand pools.
We already talked about Bitcoin wallets, which is the other component.
But when you are mining, you need to either set up your Bitcoin miner to point to a wallet directly or to a pool.
When you are mining to a pool, what you're doing is you're pooling your resources.
You're pooling your Bitcoin mining hash power with other people for the potential to get paid out the reward more often in a smaller amount.
So I had explained earlier about solo mining.
Solo mining is higher risk because you might never get that reward.
But if you do get the reward, it's going to be very, very large.
For example, right now, if you hit a block reward with your BitAx, your $100 BitAx that you set up at your own house, you could win 3.125 Bitcoin yourself with no intermediaries.
But with pooled mining, for example, if you want to make sure that you're getting paid out every week or every day, you're going to be getting paid out more frequently, but the payout is going to be smaller.
So that lowers the risk.
That way you'll be able to afford to pay your power bill if you're using pooled mining.
Whereas with solo mining, like I said, it's more risky.
You might never get the reward, but if you do get it, it's going to be a lot larger.
So yeah, you definitely need to figure out which kind of pool to use.
And there are some considerations to that.
Some people like to use pools that are North American based.
Some people don't really mind where the pool is located or the company behind it.
But there are many different types of pools out there.
One of the important things is to try to select a pool that is not close to potentially taking over the 51% attack vector.
So the more decentralized we are, the more different pools that we're using, the better.
Because that helps to decentralize mining.
For example, by using smaller pools instead of the large popular pools.
Yeah, so I told you earlier that geohashing is a very educational opportunity.
And we did develop a workshop.
And the workshop is aimed for teaching people who might already know about Bitcoin or maybe not.
But it's taking it to the next step so that people can then learn about Bitcoin mining.
So our workshop that we did develop is very hands-on.
It's very interactive.
You can actually take the BitAx device and log into it yourself right then and there with an instructor.
And it's very easy to teach.
So we've actually created some curriculum and a leader's guide and a student handbook that people can use.
To basically bring this to their community and help people to very easily teach this to others.
The geohashing workshop is Bitcoin-focused.
It's not focused on other coins or other algorithms.
It's specifically for Bitcoin-only.
And so it does align well with other Bitcoin-only communities and topics.
For example, we're working with an organization called MyFirstBitcoin.
And they have nodes all over the world right now.
I don't know how many places they have, but many countries in the world where the MyFirstBitcoin nonprofit organization runs.
We're hoping to work with them to get our Bitcoin mining education out to their network of Bitcoin diploma graduates.
So that's about it.
Anybody have questions about geohashing?
Awesome.