Ask Gary Vecchiarelli what he does, he will say that he’s president and CFO at CleanSpark. But if you ask him what CleanSpark does, the answer gets a bit more complicated.

He joined the company in December 2021. At the time, it was an energy company specializing in microgrid hardware and software. But the company was in the midst of a big pivot: Vecchiarelli said the company had done consulting work for Bitcoin miners, and decided that was the business CleanSpark should be in. So they bought a Bitcoin mine near Atlanta, and Vecchiarelli helped them transition out of energy.

As a former energy company, CleanSpark parlayed its expertise into the Bitcoin mine—which Vecchiarelli said posted uptimes of more than 90%. And they never fully let go of their first industry, acquiring the infrastructure and using their knowledge to find efficient ways to channel energy into the power-hungry Bitcoin mine.

And then another potentially lucrative—and exceedingly power-hungry—business came into focus: AI data centers. Cofounder Matt Schultz returned to the CEO position last August, and CleanSpark started another pivot. Vecchiarelli said AI data centers are where business valuations are today—and it gives CleanSpark the chance to use their energy expertise to put their megawatts “in the highest and best use.” In July, CleanSpark announced a 20-year lease worth $6.6 billion at a data center in Georgia—which includes the company’s electricity portfolio in Texas.

I spoke with Vecchiarelli about his experiences leading one publicly traded company through two big pivots—as well as the ups and downs of being in three volatile industries. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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Inflation on the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge remained a sticky 3.3% in July, according to figures published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis last week, matching the rate measured in June, and still well above the Fed’s preferred 2% rate. Analysts across the board said this will likely result in an interest rate increase at the Federal Reserve’s next meeting in September—sentiment bolstered by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on Friday, in his first speech at the central bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Warsh said that while the figures were “better than expected, they do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved,” and that the “Fed’s predominant focus right now should be on prices.”

Many analysts characterized Warsh’s speech as hawkish. Forbes senior contributor Bill Conerly points out it sounds like Warsh would raise rates tomorrow if he could—though he’s only one vote on the Federal Reserve’s........

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