Biden Administration Targets Bitcoin – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion piece by Robert Hall, a content creator and small business owner.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a report warning that mining uses large amounts of energy and requires miners to go green or potentially face the threat of a total ban. As plebs, what can we do to protect Bitcoin from government abuse?
September 8, 2022 should be seen as 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 that toyed with the idea of a potential ban on proof-of-work mining, the very essence of what gives Bitcoin its power.
There is no doubt about this action. This is a blatant attack on Bitcoin, the asset, the Bitcoin protocol, the industry that has grown organically since 2009 and, more importantly, the supporters of Bitcoin.
The Biden administration doesn’t care that Bitcoin’s annual settlement volume surpassed Visa last year. Did you know that more than $13.1 trillion was settled on-chain in 2021? I guarantee the old financial system is losing sleep over this and working overtime to put the screws to Bitcoin and try to kill it before they lose total control.
The federal government, the Federal Reserve and the banks have a symbiotic relationship; they need each other to survive. Both draw power from each other to the point where you don’t know who is in charge most of the time.
The banks finance the campaigns to buy the politicians they want, and the politicians pass laws that benefit the banks. The Federal Reserve is the entity at the center that facilitates this entire relationship. This is how the system works for the banks and the political class. Both parties are encouraged to attack Bitcoin, naturally.
The federal government uses the ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) narrative as a practical tool to condition the wider public to accept overbearing government intrusion into business operations. The fact that Bitcoin is secured by energy makes it easy for the authorities to smear the Bitcoin protocol as a detriment to society. Here is a small selection of FUD out there:
“Why Bitcoin is Bad for the Environment”
“Bitcoin uses ‘more electricity than Argentina.’
“Bitcoin Mining in Finger Lakes Raises Local Concerns”
This kind of propaganda is put out into the world without much backlash because Bitcoin is still a relatively small asset class compared to the stock market or the bond market. At the time of writing, the market cap of Bitcoin is less than $500 billion, so why are they going after Bitcoin like this now?
Considering everything that is happening around the world lends credibility to the idea that they are losing control of the situation and trying to block the exits. Think of this action as a type of capital control function. The government doesn’t want dollars flowing into an asset they don’t control. They can’t kick the can down the road and they know it.
I think 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, we can take many actions to stop this policy before it is implemented. The best course of action is to educate the people with the power to prevent it from moving forward.
What this looks like in action is contacting your House Representatives and Senate Representatives to make your voice known on this issue. The more people speak up, the more they will listen. This tactic has been proven to work 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 match!
Despite the valiant efforts of supporters across the broader cryptocurrency industry, the infrastructure package ended up being signed by President Biden last November. Although we lost this battle, the bottom line of the episode is that we were able to mobilize thousands of people to call, which is a great cause and can be built upon.
Focus on the USA
We need support and education more than ever to help protect Bitcoin from being choked to death. The beauty of America is that we have a decentralized form of government. We have 50 state legislators who 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 can help, but I take it for granted that the current administration is anti-Bitcoin and will not be swayed from their stance because they value control and power over the well-being of the American people.
Bitcoiners should rely on the power of the 10th Amendment of the United States to make their case to state legislatures. The 10th Amendment states: “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 lifted by the states in response.
Educating state legislators on both sides of the aisle about Bitcoin mining and the benefits it can generate for their state will motivate them to defend Bitcoin mining using the 10th Amendment.
If you don’t want to work through your state legislatures, residents of these 26 states have the power to defend Bitcoin mining through a ballot initiative!
Last but not least, ignore any “ban” that may happen and keep the miners connected at home. Imagine a world where every home has something as basic as an S9 mining bitcoin at home – there is nothing they can do with 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 away from us right away. Fight the good fight! In the end we will win.
This is a guest post by Robert Hall. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
