Yes, Eskom is getting into the bitcoin business

“What people don’t know about Rob [Herzov] is what he does in the back to actually deliver and fix a lot of what’s broken in the country,” African Bitcoin Corporation executive chairman Stafford Masie told Daily Maverick, talking about Rob Herzov’s involvement in a forthcoming deal with Eskom and his new bitcoin mining company Bitmach.

Read more: Crypto Corner: How bitcoin can help Eskom monetise surplus electricity

“He [Herzov] won’t come out and talk about a lot of the things that he does. But it’s extraordinary to see his efforts silently in the back working with me on these big projects because he’s been amazing.”

It’s the second keynote on day one of the Adopting Bitcoin Conference at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, and Masie made these revelations while talking about Bitmach, which he founded with Herzov and Silver Sixpence CEO Carel de Jager.

They’re about to fix a lot of the things that are broken in the power utility business model, and possibly change South Africa.

End of the rainbow

De Jager is quickly becoming this journalist’s crypto hero. He first publicly floated the (at the time) crazy idea of Eskom generating revenue from bitcoin mining all the way back in 2018, and the idea has been bubbling under the surface of the South African energy landscape ever since.

Here’s the pitch, according to Masie:
“We have too much power in the country... the alternative renewable energies that the investments that have gone in there, the amount of power in those projects is double the capacity that we need as a country... But the challenge that we have is we don’t have the transmission lines.

“A smelter needs at minimum, I think, four hours to four days of notice to shut down... The value proposition that we present with Bitmach to Eskom is a demand-response solution that can take five gigawatts of energy instantaneously, and they can switch us off instantaneously, switch us back on instantaneously... because that’s how bitcoin miners work.”

He isn’t far off with his estimate. Large smelters operate under special, long-term contracts (NPAs) with Eskom, not standard load shedding schedules. These agreements allow Eskom to switch off power for limited periods (up to two hours at a time, up to 104 hours a year, for some users) to manage grid demand, but these are managed via predefined, negotiated schedules.

As of 29 January 2026, Nersa approved an interim agreement with the ferrochrome industry focused on allowing smelters to operate at 40% capacity rather than shutting down entirely. The goal is to avoid the high costs and damage associated with immediate, emergency shutdowns of furnaces.

Novel solution to industrial headache

To be clear: Eskom has not yet announced the deal. But deploying this solution shifts the local conversation from bitcoin as currency to bitcoin as industrial infrastructure.

What the utility would gain, if it all plays out as Masie says, is a programmable load that solves transmission congestion and monetises wasted generation. This ecosystem will then be financially captured by ABC, which allows institutional capital to invest in this grid-stabilising arbitrage via the JSE.

It would also be another feather in Dan Marokane’s CEO hat after drawing much praise for dragging Eskom back to profitability in 2025.

Read more: Darling estate solar farm represents novel approach to embedded power generation

“Eskom’s return to profitability after eight years offers some welcome positive news for the power utility and the broader economy,” Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso wrote in her newsletter after the power utility’s financial results presentation in October. “I was impressed that this was achieved not just from higher tariffs, but from a fundamental and significant improvement in the operations of the state-owned entity.”

It seems that the lights are burning bright in Megawatt Park. DM