Belisari: The Platform for Power
Making generation a liquid market with Jameson Nunney
Below is a conversation between myself and Jameson Nunney, founder of Belisari, a marketplace where demand for generation can find supply.
Maverick: Please give readers of Second Power a short overview of your background.
Jameson Nunney: At heart, I’m a builder who happens to be at the intersection of bitcoin and energy from the great state of Ohio (Go Buckeyes). I’ve experimented with many different businesses while working full time in energy for over a decade and then in the bitcoin industry for the last four years. I’ve primarily led product and operations teams for companies like IGS Energy, Compass Mining, and Luxor with a mix of other experiences over the last decade sprinkled in between. A project bitcoiners might know of —-that I founded—is OrdinalHub, which I eventually sold to Luxor, my former employer.
Maverick: What is the meaning of the name “Belisari”?
Jameson Nunney: It’s a slightly shortened, cleaner version of the name of the highly revered Byzantine General, Belisarius. This should raise the eye brows of bitcoiners who are familiar with the Byzantine Generals’ problem, the name of a famous coordination problem in computer science. Satoshi— through the creation of bitcoin— was able to resolve this problem through his clever use of public key cryptography and proof of work.
In the power brokerage space, there are many intermediaries and agents that must work in concert. Belisarius was known for his trustworthiness, which we also intend on building within the industry, to ultimately generate more deal-flow and opportunities.
So the name is a subtle nod to Satoshi, Bitcoin, and the great Belisarius.
Maverick: Describe Belisari’s mission and how it’s going about fulfilling that mission.
Jameson Nunney: During my time in the bitcoin mining ecosystem I learned first hand how difficult it was to procure power. Belisari’s mission is to reduce friction on the demand side and improve the reliability and economics on the supply side. By making it easy for operators to find power and for power to be found we become an efficient match-making and market-clearing mechanism that benefits everyone.
Right now our target customers on the demand side are bitcoin miners due to them being highly mobile sources of demand and the largest portion of my professional network that is actively looking for power. I see the general category of high performance compute as a market we can service well but anyone that is looking for power will be able to use Belisari.
We provide rich data on the sites listed on the platform, direct connections to the operators, and help facilitate a partnership that works for everyone. The power procurement process can be very time intensive and complicated. Belisari will substantially reduce the time and cost it takes to search for a location, perform due diligence, and enter into an agreement that benefits all parties. In the end, the entire process will become much more standardized than the current status quo.
Most of my current efforts revolve around onboarding the supply side of the market. The demand is there. They’ll come if there is enough quality supply. Grid operators are naturally more of a conservative, slow moving constituency.
Right now my strategy is to work with economic development groups to educate them on the opportunity for operators in their locales. Often times, the transmission infrastructure is congested and/or there are overbuilt substation infrastructure that could benefit from a stable and flexible base-load demand customer, which would be considered ‘RIM Positive’ in utility speak.
I’ve been pleased with the receptivity I’ve received. Many of the people and stakeholders in these organizations understand the opportunity. The economics are very compelling.
Maverick: Where is supply going to be coming from? Is it all US based?
Jameson Nunney: Right now it is all US based and will be for the foreseeable future. This is going to be my focus because this is the market I know best and where a lot of the demand for compute is coming from. But, generation and compute is a global market. I expect Belisari to become an international marketplace overtime but for now the US will be the focus.
Maverick: In my view, Bitcoin and the crypto phenomenon in general make many markets more liquid and accessible than previously possible. Belisari is a direct consequence and expansion of that theme. When I extrapolate that further, tokenization of energy assets and projects is very probable. Do you agree or disagree with this?
In the short term, it’s not happening. Energy and finance are two of the most regulated industries in the world and these tokenization frameworks are still very young. Having said that, as the founder of OrdinalHub, I’m not allergic at all to other assets—like an energy SPV— being issued on top of a protocol like Bitcoin opening it up to a greater range of participants. In the longterm, I can see what you’re describing becoming a reality but we have a long way to go in terms of tooling and regulatory clarity.
Maverick: Thanks for your time Jameson. Please share any contact or social media information for those who want to follow yourself and/or Belisari.
Jameson: My pleasure. You can follow me and Belisari on twitter @jamonunn and @belisari_com respectively. And if you want to reach out to me directly about Belasari my email is jameson@belisari.com.