The White House is Wrong about Bitcoin Mining with Nic Carter - WBD571

Nic Carter is a Partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder
and Chairman of Coin Metrics. In this interview, we discuss the
White House bitcoin mining research paper, regulation and the
role of renewables in the energy mix.


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In September, the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) published a study which looked into the climate
impacts of bitcoin mining.


The report successfully acknowledged the differences between PoS
and PoW, the contribution of bitcoin mining to grid flexibility
& demand response and the potential to unlock stranded
renewables, but the rest of the report offers little, if any
merit.


Overall, the findings in this report were quite damning. The
report relies on non-peer-reviewed and often totally flawed data
from the likes of De Vries and Digiconomist and even cites the
absurd 2018 Mora et al paper. As Nic says in his article, "The
Mora reference is shocking. It's a bit like reading a scientific
government report on the history of the moon landing and finding
a reference to a conspiracy website claiming that the entire
thing was faked."


With papers like this from the White House, the New York Mining
Moratorium Bill and general growing disdain for Bitcoin mining,
the US risks giving up its headstart. It is the country with the
most to lose, and as we saw when China banned mining, Bitcoin is
totally agnostic, and by banning, or overregulating, America
won't hurt bitcoin, only itself. "If you ban it, you empower your
enemies, like Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea. If you
embrace it, you directly hurt them, and give their citizens tools
to free themselves from those oppressive regimes."