This is an opinion piece by Robert Hall, content creator and small business owner.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report warning that mining uses a large amount of energy and requires miners to go greener or potentially face a total ban. As plebs, what can we do to protect Bitcoin from government excesses?
September 8, 2022 should be considered the day the US government declared war on Bitcoin and its supporters. President Biden and the White House sent shockwaves through the Bitcoin community with an announcement toying with the idea of a possible ban on proof-of-work mining, the very essence of what gives its power to bitcoin.
There is no doubt about this action. This is a blatant attack on Bitcoin, the asset, Bitcoin the protocol, the industry that has grown organically since 2009, and more importantly Bitcoin supporters.
The Biden administration doesn’t care that Bitcoin’s annual settlement volume surpassed Visa last year. Did you know that over $13.1 trillion was settled on-chain in 2021? I guarantee the legacy financial system is losing sleep over this and working overtime to put the screw on bitcoin and try to kill it before it loses full control.
The federal government, the Federal Reserve and the banks have a symbiotic relationship; they need each other to survive. The two draw power from each other to the point where you don’t know who’s in charge most of the time.
Banks finance campaigns to buy the politicians they want, and politicians pass laws that benefit the banks. The Federal Reserve is the entity in the middle that facilitates this whole relationship. This is how the system works for the banks and the political class. Both parties have a natural incentive to attack Bitcoin.
The federal government uses the ESG (environment, social and governance) narrative as a practical tool that conditions the general public to accept authoritarian government intrusion into business operations. The fact that Bitcoin is energy secure makes it easy for the government to smear the Bitcoin protocol as a harm to society. Here’s a small sample of the FUD there:
“Why Bitcoin is bad for the environment”
“Bitcoin consumes ‘more electricity than Argentina’.”
“Bitcoin Mining in Finger Lakes Raises Local Concerns”
This type of propaganda is spread around the world without too much hindsight because Bitcoin is still a relatively small asset class compared to the stock market or the bond market. The market capitalization of bitcoin, at the time of writing, is less than $500 billion, so why are they attacking bitcoin like this now?
Considering everything going on in the world lends credence to the idea that they are losing control of the situation and trying to block exits. Think of this action as a type of capital control function. The government does not want dollars flowing into an asset it does not control. They can’t kick the street, and they know it.
I believe the Biden administration is floating this idea of banning proof of work mining because they plan to implement this policy in the near future. This is a code red situation, and all hands must be on deck for this one. If you care about Bitcoin, you need to take action.
How can Bitcoiners fight back?
As Bitcoiners, there are many steps we can take to stop this policy before it is implemented. The best course of action is to educate the people who have the power to stop it from moving forward.
What this looks like in action is reaching out to your chamber representatives and senate representatives to make your voice heard on this issue. The more people talk, the more they will listen. This tactic has proven successful in the past, a recent example being the rapid mobilization against the infrastructure bill last year. Forty thousand calls were made last year during this fight!
Despite the valiant efforts of proponents across the broader cryptocurrency industry, the infrastructure package ended up being signed by President Biden last November. Although we lost that battle, the silver lining of the episode is that we were able to mobilize thousands of people to make a phone call, which is important and could be expanded upon.
Focus on States
We need advocacy and education more than ever to help protect Bitcoin from being strangled to death. The beauty of America is that we have a decentralized form of government. We have 50 state legislatures that need to listen to what Bitcoiners have to say.
This is where we need to focus our efforts, in my opinion. Advocacy and education at the federal level could help, but I take it for granted that the current administration is anti-Bitcoin and will not be swayed by its stance as it values control and power over the welfare of the people American. .
Bitcoiners should rely on the power of the US 10th Amendment to make their case to state legislators. The 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved respectively to the States or to the people.”
Nowhere in the Constitution does it give the federal government the power to regulate how the people or the states use energy. A so-called ban on proof-of-work mining would be unconstitutional and should be struck down by states in response.
Educating state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about bitcoin mining and the benefits it can bring to their state will inspire them to defend bitcoin mining using the 10th Amendment.
If you don’t want to go through state legislatures, the citizens of these 26 states have the power to defend Bitcoin mining through a ballot initiative!
Last but not least, ignore any “bans” that may arise and keep your minors plugged in at home. Imagine a world where every home has something as basic as an S9 mining bitcoin at home – there’s nothing they can do about it.
We, as free people, have the right to use the best money ever created to protect our wealth and our time. We cannot let the government take that right away from us. Fight the good fight! In the end, we will win.
This is a guest post by Robert Hall. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.