Dear
@Ed_Miliband
I heard from
@freddienew that in response to
@btcjvs's suggestion you look at Bitcoin mining as a way to monetize UK's large amount of Wasted Renewable Energy (something several nation states are now already doing, to good effect), you shut down the conversation with the response "Bitcoin is useless".
It is a free world, so I celebrate the fact you have the freedom to express your opinion "Bitcoin is useless".
Equally, as a public servant whose views, informed or otherwise, on energy impact the wellbeing of millions your citizens, you have the duty of care to make sure that your views serve your citizens.
Your comment "Bitcoin is useless" demonstrates that either
a. You are uninformed, or
b. You do not care for vast swathes of human life.
So as someone who has spent a little more time than you researching the uses of Bitcoin, let me lay it out to you unambiguously.
When you say "Bitcoin is useless", you are saying that:
1. Increasing the energy security of the UK, and other nations, is useless
carboncredits.com/is-bitcoin…
en.odfoundation.eu/content/u…
2. Monetizing otherwise wasted renewable energy (as several large companies and nation states are already doing, and using the proceeds to combat energy poverty is useless
nitter.net/DSBatten/status/189663…
3. Reducing the payback period of new renewable energy generation from 8.1yrs to 3.7yr, so that renewable energy projects can proliferate without government subsidies, is useless.
cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2…
4. Counterbalancing the intermittencies of rewewable power generation without expensive grid upgrades in countries with ageing grids (like UK) is useless
nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/s…
5. Accelerating the renewable transition by making renewable generation more profitable is useless
news.cornell.edu/stories/202…
(while in parallel becoming the world's most sustainably powered industry)
nitter.net/DSBatten/status/167032…
6 Reducing more emissions from landfills than the largest DAC project in the world ever achieved is useless
renewableenergymagazine.com/…
7. Developing an monetary financial system with significantly lower emissions and emissions intensity than the banking system is useless
nasdaq.com/articles/a-compar…
nitter.net/DSBatten/status/167133…
8. Bringing 28,885 African villagers out of energy poverty across 6 locations in Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, is useless
bbc.com/news/articles/cly4xe…
piped.video/watch?v=wfwLy8MW…
unherd.com/2024/01/the-afric…
9. Fast tracking the delivery of renewable energy to millions of Ethiopians is useless
nitter.net/DSBatten/status/188677…
10. Getting aid to 1000s of war refugees is useless
cnbc.com/2022/03/23/ukrainia……
11. Developing energy independence for Bhutan is useless
impact.economist.com/project…
12. Saving National Parks in Africa from closure is useless
technologyreview.com/2023/01…
13. Helping Afghanastani women avoid State-level financial discrimination is useless
bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/…
14. Establishing the economic sovereignty of 14 African nations still experiencing French financial colonization is useless
foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/03…
15. The idea of creating an alternative to a monetary system which can and does elongate wars, increase wealth gaps, bail out bankers but fail to protect employees and small businesses is useless
amazon.com/Engine-Inequality…
16. The potential to provide banking to up to 2 Billion unbanked is useless
impact.economist.com/project…
cnbc.com/2023/03/26/bitcoin-…
17. Providing a financial system that is harder to use for money laundering than fiat currency is useless
decrypt.co/125623/crooks-def…
18. Removing the risk of financial reprisal for running humanitarian campaigns in autocratic nations where 5.7Billion people live is useless
bbc.com/news/world-africa-56…
financialinclusion.tech/
19. Providing up to 250 Million people in countries experiencing hyperinflation a means to stop 50%+ erosion of their family savings per year is useless
cointribune.com/en/argentina…
20. Allowing people in developing nations to receive remittance payments from family without delays and without heavy fees is useless
thenextweb.com/news/el-salva…
21. Having a secure, permissionless, decentralized, 24/7 store of value with fixed monetary supply is useless
bitcoin.com/get-started/the-…
Not all 21 uses of Bitcoin relate directly to your citizens, many of them do.
As I'm sure you'll agree, these uses are not only far from useless, but coincide with the very energy security, energy equity and energy sustainability goals that you claim to care about.
While you are within your rights to dismiss technologies you clearly have not taken the time to understand, the byproduct of your lack of research are not OK.
Right now, UK continues to cut pensioners' access to energy subsidies, placing more and more of them into energy poverty. If this were a necessity austerity, we could perhaps rationalize this as being acceptible
But this is anything but necessarily because you are concurrently and voluntarily wasting hundreds of millions of pounds in wind power that could be easily monetized through Bitcoin mining were it not for your intransigence.
As it stands, you are in your ignorance is not only belittling a technology that is helping vast numbers of people already - often on matters of human dignity and basic human freedoms. It is also unnecessarily increasing energy poverty in your own backyard.
Please do better in your research.
Sincerely
Daniel Batten
Climatetech Investor and Bitcoin analyst