A startup called SPAN wants to mount a unit next to your house that looks like an AC condenser. Inside: 16 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, Dell liquid-cooled servers, 3TB of memory. The pitch is clean. Use your spare electrical capacity to run AI compute. In return, your power and internet bills get covered, plus usage-based payments for running the node.

It is a good pitch. That is the problem.

You have seen this before.

In 2000, SETI@home enlisted over 200,000 PC owners to donate their idle processing power to science via a screensaver. Nobody got paid. The risk was zero. The hardware was already theirs. That model was honest about what it was asking. ScienceDaily

Then came home crypto mining. The framing was identical: spare capacity, passive income, be part of something. What the pitch left out was the electricity cost creep, the heat, the noise, and the physical security problem. Mining rigs are valuable, and theft can result in significant financial loss. Tampering with rigs can lead to loss of mining power. At the peak of the GPU boom, a well-equipped mining rig represented maybe $10,000 to $20,000 in hardware sitting in someone's garage. Blockchain Magazine

SPAN is that same model. With one difference. The hardware in that box is worth somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000 at current GPU market prices. And it is in your yard.

What the sales pitch does not answer:

Who is liable if the unit is stolen? Catalytic converter theft runs rampant because the metal is worth a few hundred dollars, and the fence market is established. GPU gray markets are already mature. A box containing 16 Blackwell GPUs is not a deterrent problem; it is a targeting problem. Once this product achieves any market penetration, every unit becomes a known target.

What happens to your homeowner's insurance? Most residential policies were not written to cover a six-figure commercial computing infrastructure on your property. That conversation with your insurer will be clarifying.

What network access does SPAN retain? The unit requires a persistent connection to run the node. That connection runs through your home network. The attack surface that is created is not in the brochure.

What are the contract exit terms? Your income depends on computer demand, which SPAN does not control. Your ability to renegotiate depends on the leverage you do not have once the hardware is installed.

The honest read on the model:

SPAN is attempting to distribute infrastructure cost and physical liability to retail customers while retaining revenue upside at the platform level. This is not new. It is the same structure that made home crypto mining attractive until the economics reversed, leaving hosts holding hardware and electrical bills.

The "spare capacity" framing is doing specific work here. It positions your home as an underutilized asset, which makes non-participation feel like leaving money on the table. That is a sales technique, not a risk disclosure.

The precedent is clear. The pattern is legible. The question is whether enough people will read it before the first round of thefts makes the news.