On July 7, 2024, we had the privilege of sending interview questions to Christian Ludwig, an influential member of the cryptocurrency community and one of the largest holders of Kaspa—at one point, the largest holder. He is an Inc. 500 Entrepreneur and runs the Kaspa mining company c#rate. Additionally, he is Kaspa's US East Coast business development volunteer representative.

Ludwig began his professional career selling door-to-door pest control, quickly becoming the number-one rookie salesman, growing the business from 300,000 to 2 million USD. This initial success encouraged him to start his own business, expanding from 600 customers to 30,000, and from one location in Charlotte, NC, to multiple locations. He later sold his company to a private equity firm for $33 million.

His journey with crypto started in 2017 after a substitute teacher spoke to his class about Bitcoin and blockchain technology. While he missed the early crypto bear market, he entered the cryptocurrency space in 2021. This was when he decided to get into cryptocurrency mining, finding several similarities between the pest control and mining industries. He started mining Ethereum in 2022 after initially investing $200,000 in GPUs.

After the announcement of The Merge, Ludwig and his partner refocused their efforts on a new proof-of-work cryptocurrency—Kaspa. They started mining when KAS was $0.002 per KAS. In an interview with Tactical Investing, Ludwig stated that he had never encountered anything like Kaspa in his six years in crypto, calling it a once-in-a-decade investment. He went all-in on Kaspa, and kept purchasing more miners. He runs over $11 million worth of Kaspa miners through his company and personal mining operations.

Below is a transcript of our interview with Christian Ludwig. 

To learn more about Christian, follow him on X (twitter), and YouTube. 

Business 

What is one piece of advice you would give people who are looking to start their own business? 

For most businesses - Spend as little money as possible and spend as much time reproducing on selling as possible. 

For a mining company - capital and fundamental analysis are king. 

How has your sales background helped you start and run your own business? 

Sales is the lifeblood of almost any business. You don't have a business without revenue - just an idea or a product. By understanding and being able to execute sales, you will grow your idea or product and think in a distinct manner that allows you to be frugal in other areas of the business because you realize the value of such compared to sales. 

Any advice on how to choose the right business partner? 

Once they seem like a good fit - Get lunch with them and see how they treat the waiter or waitress. 

What did you discover about running a business you didn't know before? 

Any business in which you are scaling revenue will require 4x more capital than you initially anticipated.

Would you recommend that people work in the crypto industry? 

I don't think someone should work in the crypto industry until they have followed and interacted with crypto for at least four years. There are too many blind points until you have navigated the crypto seas. 

How long did it take you to break even in crypto? 

I started my journey with a fomo into the 2017 bull market when Bitcoin was $7,000. It went straight up from there, and I've netted money in each respective bull market. I could have profited much more in each bull market had I not gotten euphoric and greedy.

How many employees do you have? 

In my last business in the pest control industry, I had over 300 employees and contractors. With my mining company, I have none. Most of our units are hosted by my business partner, who manages our facility. The beautiful thing about the mining space is if you choose the strategy we did (hosting machines out and not accepting to host in our facility), you don't need to have any employees or customers, making it a wonderful lifestyle business. Obviously, we will add employees as we scale and move more in-house. 

Are you "all-in" on Kaspa mining, or do you have other businesses/forms of income? 

Kaspa and Kaspa mining account for 80% of my net worth. I've ensured I have enough diversification into non-crypto assets to get through my lifetime if the asset class went to 0 for some odd reason. Concerning crypto, Kaspa is 45%, Kaspa mining 50%, and other cryptos [account for] 5% of my portfolio. In addition to mining Kaspa, we mine a marginal amount of Dynex and have seven figures worth of Octaspace nodes.

Do you feel any pressure being seen as an influential figure in the Kaspa community? 

No. It was never my goal to be influential, I don't have any angle, I don't care, I just enjoy expressing my thoughts on the asset. 

Are there any personal projects you are excited about that you would like to share with our readers? 

I am excited to raise money for Compound Hashrate and, hopefully, one day, go public in the United States as the first alt-coin exclusive mining company. I believe the rising sea of Kaspa can get my boat there. I also have a vision for the company to branch into private Kaspa development. 

Kaspa Miners in Ludwig's Compound Hashrate Facility

Crypto 

What types of crypto projects were you initially interested in? 

Initially, it was Bitcoin in 2017, but it quickly diversified into whichever alt-coin sounded cool and was pumping at the time. I even found myself investing in random ETH microchips on Etherdelta and doing a few ICO's. One ICO was Ethlend, which ended up being Aave, but unfortunately, I sold after the ICO. Plays of that cycle included Raiden Network, Einsteinium, Ethereum Blue, Dragonchain, BCH, Doge, and Ripple.  

Did you interact with many Web3 dapps and networks before you found Kaspa? Or were you always most interested in mining? 

Absolutely, in 2021 I got sucked into the meme coin craze and interacted with multiple chains. My not-so-proudest highest return investments were Ass coin on Binance and SEC (S**k Elons C***k) on Polygon. Playing on these chains, including sending Bitcoin transactions in 2017, helped me identify shortcomings that Kaspa could solve. 

What macro trends do you see in the future of crypto?

Peer-to-peer electronic cash is the most overlooked. Half the world has a strong need for an all in one decentralized SOV/ MOE. Aside from this I see RWA (real world assets) on-chain as well as energy credits. My contrarian take is that DEFI will fail because it is dependent on emissions of certain coins or tokens against their perceived value. 

Do you think we're still "early" as retail investors in crypto? 

In crypto terms, no, as "crypto" has been around for over a decade. In the sense of front-running crypto adoption in the real world, this is the last chance to be early, but you have to choose the right projects. 

How correlated are the crypto markets to financial markets? 

It is tied to global liquidity, like most assets in the world. If the adoption of certain assets, says Kaspa, takes on the role of being adopted as decentralized peer-to-peer cash around the world - it could decorrelate. 

Can we have another crypto bull run with the current financial market outlook? 

We are currently, at the time of writing, in a bullrun and on the verge of a euphoric bullrun. If you are fully allocated and have a plan to take some profit - you are winning -  vs. 99% of retail. 

What indicators did you look at to accurately predict the FTX collapse to mark the bottom of the market? 

It was more deductive reasoning than anything. Bitcoin was already starting to create a bottom around the 2018 ATH, and a once-in-a-few-year black swan moment happened, sending it lower. If everyone who wanted to sell has sold before backtesting an all-time high from three years prior, and then a major news-forward black swan happens - you can assume those who sell that event below the prior cycles ATH will be the last who are willing to sell. What seemed obvious to me was not for most.  

Do you perform technical analysis on the markets? 

I do. It is more about taking people's varied ideas from X and bookmarking the ones I agree with vs. chalking up my own TA. I do believe technical analysis is just as important as fundamental analysis. Not because it is actually important in a vacuum like FA (fundamental analysis), but because most people think it is important—it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and thus is actually important. 

Do you have any advice for people looking to learn more about this? 

Get an X account and spend hours per day on crypto Twitter. Do not listen to anyone who seems to be paid to do what they do. 

The US has historically been one of the least friendly countries toward crypto innovation. Are you optimistic that this will change in the near term? 

Although there is currently no immediate threat to crypto (only signaling), the red swing of November 2024 will make crypto innovation a mainstay in the United States. 

Do you have a contingency plan to move your miners in case of antagonistic legislation? 

We could easily ship all of our miners to be hosted in another country. Building infrastructure in the US for mining is more of the risk here. 

Do you have other sites in mind where you would like to expand your operation? 

Currently we have miners across the United States. It is less risky than overseas due to the ease of prosecution and law if issues arise. Also, because Kaspa is so profitable, we do not need to chase the cheapest power around the globe, i.e., Russia, Ethiopia, etc., and enhance our risk. I have heard too many horror stories about government seizures of miners, theft, bad shipments, etc. 

Do you still look into other crypto projects for investment? 

Yes, in the same way that I had an open mind in Kaspa, I will continue to have an open mind. I will never label myself a maximalist, as it's a permanent trade of ego for logic. 

Would you like to share any of your favorite research sources? 

I really love X because I can curate research from the mouths of individuals vs. news articles or videos that could be sponsored. 

Kaspa 

How did you discover Kaspa? 

We were looking for new innovations to mine with our GPUs after the ETH merge, and I found Kaspa when Flux announced that Kaspa nodes were running on their decentralized servers in Q3 2022. 

What made you decide to go all-in on Kaspa? 

If I'm honest, the not-so-conspiracy of the Satoshi group origin [associated with] the project. I would have gone either way, but knowing the history of Satoshi and Bitcoin so well, everything matched up. Even after a very sizable allocation, I truly went all-in with my liquid assets - I even reverse-mortgaged my brand new $2MM home I had just bought in cash. The project's tech stack is top-tier, but people matter - especially their history and capabilities. 

What made you decide to go all-in on Kaspa mining? 

The same reasons I went all in with personal allocation - I was just already equipped to do it quickly. 

What are you most excited about regarding the future of Kaspa? 

Although there are now a myriad of reasons to be excited about Kaspa, I am most excited to see It adopted around the globe for peer-to-peer electronic cash and see Satoshi's vision [come] to reality. If the whole world has a fair playground for SOV/MOE (store of value, medium of exchange), we can make the world a better place and give those who historically do not have a chance at a good life a chance. 

What is your relationship with Ice River? 

I have no relationship with Iceriver and have never run one of their miners until the KS5L that I won in a raffle at Mining Disrupt. It's running well, and I am negotiating a larger purchase. It seems they have corrected the issues with their earlier miners. 

Do you own enough Kaspa to move the market? If so, do you consider that when making your decisions? 

Yes, I do. I have only ever done limit orders or TWAPS (time-weighted average price), typically to grow the business and buy more miners when the market feels overheated. Now, I am actively raising outside capital. The majority of my holdings are for multi-decade cold storage, as this will probably provide the greatest long-term returns. 

How has it been being a member of the Kaspa community?

I've really enjoyed it. Because Kaspa is a fair-launched community project, the community's growth and feel are very real and organic. Compared to other crypto and business communities? It's refreshing to have a newer community like Kaspa now that crypto is saturated with marketing, VCs, scams, vaporware, etc. Community members feel a communal calling to "do their part," whether it's development, donating, tweeting, etc. Most other projects pay for all of this, and somehow the effect is not the same - there's something about doing something because you believe in it and want to vs. being paid a KOL (key opinion leader) or a salary to do it. 

Do you have a relationship with the core developers at Kaspa? 

Nothing more than surface level. Eyal and I have spoken for a while, and he actually (without asking for money) helped me recover my seed kpc file from my computer after I had accidentally saved the Kpk into a new type of file when renaming it. Eyal guided me through how to reverse the file change using hard commands on my computer. At the time, I had 230,000,000 Kaspa, and it was quite the moment on Google Meet with him when we saw that the Kpk file import had been successful to the web wallet. I'd like to think I tipped him well, but maybe (I will) I'll buy him a nice watch when Kaspa hits $1. In any case, good people like Eyal and other core members are extremely hard to come by in this industry. Other than that, I had my one minute of fame asking Yonatan a question on a Twitter space, and I got to hang out with Shai at Mining Disrupt in Miami. 

You've shared some accurate price predictions on X by analyzing the hash rate. What indicators related to network hash rate do you look for that you can share with our readers?

Proof-of-work networks have a feedback loop between the amount of energy backing the network and the value of the network. The more secure a network, the more users; the more users, the higher the price; the higher the price, the more miners will come to mine; the more miners there are, the more secure the network; so on, and so forth. There have been periods in which I have sold to purchase miners because the price deviates from the hash rate, and times I have bought back in with new capital with a hash rate far exceeding the price. It's quite an easy trade if you are patient. 

What are some differences between retail and institutional investing in crypto? 

I honestly now believe there is no difference. Market psychology is the same for all humans, and I see institutions fomo and panic just as retail would. I think those with the greatest advantage now are sophisticated retail users who have been through multiple cycles. 

How do you think Kaspa will transform the crypto market? 

Kaspa will not transform the crypto market; it will inherit it. When something offers full security, decentralization, and scalability for the first time, then if any crypto project wants to be as successful as it can be, it will need to run on Kaspa. If there is a perfect layer one, like Kaspa, then all of a sudden, other layer one's start to seem outdated and inferior technology, and their billions of layer two market cap start to make no sense either. Crypto is having its Darwinism awakening, and long gone are the days of a "rising tide raises all ships." Even though there are tens of thousands of projects now, only 10-20 will have sustainable higher highs in each bull market. Kaspa will not only transform the crypto markets but also be the only decentralized network that is secure and fast enough to support real-world use cases like asset tokenization and energy credits. I think major financial institutions and governmental energy agencies are starting to realize this. 

How do you see Kaspa revolutionizing money and financial markets?

Kaspa is money, and financial markets can, in theory, operate on the BlockDAG. Imagine financial markets operating within the money itself. 

What other industries do you see being transformed by Kaspa? 

I think Kaspa is the best chain to have tokenized real world assets and energy credits on.

What improvements or areas of innovation would you like to see in the Kaspa community? 

I believe everything is on the right path. Solutions must be made to encourage or enhance ease of use and business insights into solo mining. My company is working to develop a solution in which Kaspa solo mining will have all the UI (user interface), wallet and analytics needed for easy revenue recognition and performance tracking. Essentially, it creates a "pool-like" service to support solo mining that costs a fraction of doing solo mining through a pool. Kaspa cannot succumb to the same pool of domination of hash rate as Bitcoin. Kaspa has a high block creation rate to reward solo miners frequently, but solutions must be made to make solo mining as easy and in-depth as pool mining offers. 

What country do you think is innovating the most in crypto?

Israel and China. 

What areas of innovation are you most excited about in the crypto industry? 

A trilemma-solving crypto seeing real world adoption from many angles. Mining 

How did you first get into crypto mining and learn about it? 

I'd known about it since 2017 but didn't understand the business model until late 2021 when I decided to start Compound Hashrate. It's really an incredible business model because (at least in the US) you get full depreciation of the equipment as well as the profits / HODL associated with the mining. The depreciation of our miners had fully covered the taxes I owed from the sale of my last company, which was a multiple seven-figure liability. 

I saw that you started mining ETH and later switched to mining Kaspa. Were there any other cryptocurrencies that you mined? 

Yes, we mined FLUX and still have a bag worth 20k. We are also currently mining Dynex and are running Octa nodes. 

How did you learn about mining and setting up miners? 

Truthfully, I am not a technical expert, although I have learned a lot. My business partner, Ray, handles the technical details around the miners as our CTO. 

What made you want to invest in mining KAS instead of holding or trading the asset? 

In the beginning, after my initial research, I went in on mining and holding.

Did the Rusty Kaspa upgrade affect your mining operations? 

No, it will affect no one's mining operations, even if they solo mine on a node and haven't upgraded. 

Do you foresee any other upgrades affecting your mining operation? 

No. 

Are you currently mining any other cryptocurrencies? 

Dynex and Octa.

How has mining Kaspa differentiated from other cryptocurrencies? 

Kaspa is more energy and heat-efficient than most other forms of mining. 

Can you expand on what you meant by Kaspa being the first truly decentralized mining coin? 

I said it is the first fair playground—not necessarily a decentralized mining coin. Due to the high block rate, home miners can be competitive on smaller machines in solo mining compared to the likes of other basic POW coins. 

What did you think when you learned that Marathon has been mining Kaspa? 

It wasn't surprising to me at the time because I had heard from several people in the mining industry that they were. There were signs, such as three months of Bitmain production being sold out and a skyrocketing hash rate. 

Do you think more large mining operations will start getting into Kaspa? 

I know of several who have, but I am not privy to share who. 

Are you looking to increase your mining fleet in the future? 

I would like to - yes. 

How is the crypto mining business similar to the pest control industry? 

Both are recurring revenue models in which you perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of acquisition cost vs. lifetime value. 

Which Asics are you running? 

Bitmain Antminer KS3s and KS5s.

Did you swap them out for the latest version? 

There's no reason to swap because generation 1 basics are still very profitable even though the electricity isn't quite as efficient as new generations. Because Kaspa is so profitable, the difference between generations net profit after electricity is marginal, unlike bitcoin mining. 

Do you have to replace the cooling equipment? 

Sometimes, fans or dashboards fail; if we can't fix them on-site, we will send them in for replacement. 

If so, how often? 

More often than I would like to happen. Bitmain Kaspa miners seem to have a higher fail rate than Bitmain bitcoin miners for some odd reason. 

What type of power source do you use? 

It varied depending on the generation of miners as they have different power requirements. 

Where is the power coming from? 

The normal grid. 

Are you using green energy? 

Around 30%. 

Are you interested in increasing this percentage? 

If the opportunity arises, then yes.

How do the electrical costs of mining Kaspa compare to other cryptocurrencies?

It is far less than a portion of gross profit compared to any other crypto you can mine, and it has consistently been that way.

How are the profit margins of mining Kaspa compared to other cryptocurrencies? 

Multiples are greater than any other cryptocurrency. 

Did you receive any federal funding or incentives for mining? 

No - I don't think such a thing would even be on the radar. 

How did you decide on the location(s) for your miners? 

For our own facility, we chose Texas for the cheap cost of power and the fact that it is the largest state in the US for mining. So, in a sense, there is more security than anywhere else in not having a ban there. We have our machines hosted in several other states wherever there is room in this limited hosting environment. If a state were to ban it there, we would simply ship them elsewhere as we do not own the infrastructure. 

How did you determine the initial funding allocation (miners, power, location)? 

We had to ball moving in our own facility before mining. So naturally once it was built out we used it to mine Kaspa before reaching max capacity and moving into hosting. Hosting was a better decision vs. investing in more infrastructure or a new facility due to Kaspa's fast emissions schedule. It was a better decision to invest as much money in miners to mine as much Kaspa as possible in what is called an "asset light" strategy vs. using a big chunk of the same capital for proprietary infrastructure and running fewer miners. 

Do you recommend people get into mining as retail miners? 

As a business, it is easiest and best for 99% of individuals to simply have exposure to mining through home mining on a few home miners, such as the KS0 ultra, at most. 

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to be a retail miner? 

Do it! It's incredibly fun and rewarding and helps you understand how the Kaspa blockdag operates.