Bitcoin Community

Judge orders YouTuber ‘BitBoy Crypto’ to appear and address alleged harassment

Ben Armstrong was ordered to appear in a Florida court to address allegations he threatened and harassed lawyers behind a class-action lawsuit against him and other crypto influencers.

A federal magistrate judge has signed an order requiring BitBoy Crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong to appear in Florida as part of a status conference related to a lawsuit involving several crypto influencers.

In an April 12 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Melissa Damian ordered Armstrong and his counsel to appear on April 20 along with the legal team representing the influencers. According to the order, the conference was aimed at bringing awareness of “Armstrong’s harassment towards plaintiffs’ counsel.”

Armstrong, along with several other YouTubers, were named in a $1-billion lawsuit filed on March 15 for allegedly promoting “FTX crypto fraud without disclosing compensation.” Adam Moskowitz, representing plaintiff Edwin Garrison and others in the class-action lawsuit, has claimed that Armstrong harassed the legal team with “endless phone calls, tweets and emails,” voicemails “full of vulgarities,” and social media posts suggesting threats.

An April 5 filing showing cause for a hearing with Armstrong detailed “daily violent threats” by the YouTuber in addition to responses to emails with threats and insults before being served with process papers. The legal team also reported in a March 20 filing that one of Armstrong’s voicemails included the YouTuber allegedly threatening to surround Moskowitz’s home with protesters “24/7 day and night.”

“The scope of the attacks (including death threats), which examples are provided in those filings and which continue on a daily basis since, necessitated Undersigned Counsel to open an FBI investigation into Armstrong, as well as the investigation files by local police authorities for Plaintiffs’ counsel and their families,” said Moskowitz.

Twitter posts from Armstrong claimed the original lawsuit regarding disclosure of compensation from FTX had “absolutely no merit.” The crypto influencer is no stranger to online controversy, regularly insulting high-profile figures, including European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde and being generally dismissive of the class-action lawsuit.

Related: YouTube appoints Web3-friendly exec as new CEO

In August 2022, Armstrong filed a defamation suit against YouTuber Erling Mengshoel Jr. — also known as Atozy — in response to a video Mengshoel posted claiming that “This YouTuber scams his fans… Bitboy Crypto.” Armstrong dropped the lawsuit after Mengshoel raised more than $200,000 in a campaign for his defense in less than 24 hours.

Magazine: Get your money back: The weird world of crypto litigation

UK forms Bitcoin Policy org to boost BTC education and adoption

A Bitcoin-only policy organization in the United Kingdom seeks to steer a course for greater levels of BTC adoption.

God save our gracious coin, and long live the coin. A team of entrepreneurs, environmentalists and Bitcoin (BTC) advocates have assembled to back Bitcoin in Britain.

Bitcoin Policy UK (BPUK) unites stakeholders, policymakers, environmentalists, tax specialists, Bitcoin experts and miners to “unlock the potential of Bitcoin” in Britain and explore how the decentralized currency’s burgeoning industry could benefit U.K. households, businesses and communities.

BPUK’s primary objectives are to drive investment, generate and prepare students for the Bitcoin jobs of the future, raise awareness and education, and explore the use of wasted and stranded energy resources for Bitcoin mining.

Freddie New, BPUK’s head of policy, told Cointelegraph that “the genesis of this project was the Bitcoin Collective Conference in Edinburgh” — the U.K.’s largest Bitcoin conference, taking place in fall 2022.

Bitcoin advocates Natalie Brunell, Lawrence Lepard, Greg Foss and Jeff Booth on stage at the Bitcoin Collective in 2022. Source: Bitcoin Collective

New told Cointelegraph that most of the team had been working on Bitcoin advocacy in one way or another before the conference, “but coming together like this will enable us to formalize these efforts and focus on three key related areas.” He continued:

“Getting clear and correct information on Bitcoin to policymakers and regulators, highlighting the environmental and sustainability benefits of the mining industry, and collating and providing educational resources for the next generation of Bitcoiners.”

Some of the advisers and board members are familiar to Cointelegraph readers. Author and journalist DecentraSuze, whose son recently introduced Bitcoin to the classroom, is a director, while Jordan Walker, co-founder of The Bitcoin Collective, and Mark Morton are advisers. Morton’s Bitcoin mining company, Scilling Digital Mining, was featured in a recent Cointelegraph mini-documentary:

Walker told Cointelegraph that the BPUK is an important piece of the collective puzzle to drive Bitcoin education in the U.K.:

“It’s time for the UK to step up when it comes to embracing new technologies such as Bitcoin, otherwise we risk getting left behind.” 

New told Cointelegraph that the BPUK is not-for-profit. To operate, it hopes to raise funds through the community, tapping into the growing trend of funding projects with satoshis, or small amounts of BTC, via the Lightning Network, a layer-2 instant payment solution built atop Bitcoin.

Part of the team’s mission is to locate and harness renewable, wasted or stranded energy across the U.K., New explained. 

“We’re working […] to identify potential sites for sustainable mining, and our aim is to develop some small mining installations to use as ‘proof-of-concept’ sites.

He continued with the plan: “We can then invite British policymakers to these sites so they can see mines in action and hopefully understand more about the industry’s potential to mitigate vented methane, provide demand response for renewable grids, or simply act as a customer for energy that is otherwise wasted.”

The bagpiper procession that brought the Bitcoin Collective conference to a close. Source: YouTube 

The U.K. has burgeoning renewable energy sources but lacks in hash rate (a measure of the Bitcoin protocol’s security). According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, the U.K. supports 0.23% of the global monthly hash rate, compared with the United States’ 37.84%.

This is partly due to electricity costs in the U.K. exceeding those of the U.S. and Asia, but also due to Bitcoin mining awareness — or a lack thereof — in the U.K. Moreover, legacy media platforms have taken aim at the Bitcoin mining industry in recent years — the Guardian critiqued Bitcoin as “digital beef” instead of “digital gold.”

A heat map of the monthly Bitcoin Mining hash rate. The U.K. is light orange, at 0.23%. Source: CCAF

BPUK highlighted that in light of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, it could develop a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency regime separate from that of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in Europe. The European parliamentary committee on MiCA may threaten Bitcoin mining on the continent. 

BPUK co-founder Krista Edmunds took inspiration from El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021. Edmunds explained:

“The U.K. has an immense opportunity to become one of the first jurisdictions globally to embrace Bitcoin. We have seen what is possible in El Salvador, which is experiencing huge gains due to its forward-thinking approach to Bitcoin. The U.K. can secure a similar competitive advantage, and we hope to support the British people in making that happen.”

On the governmental side, the policy group will have an opportunity to educate and inform. Lisa Cameron, a member of Parliament and chairperson of the Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), told Cointelegraph in an interview last year: “We are on a learning curve, and it’s just very, very important because the U.K. government has a policy vision that the U.K. will become an international hub of cryptocurrency and digital assets.” She added that there was some confusion surrounding Bitcoin, central bank digital currencies and cryptocurrency. 

Cointelegraph’s Joe Hall speaks to MP Lisa Cameron in Edinburgh.

New explained that as a Bitcoin-only organization, the BPUK ultimately seeks to “make sure that Bitcoin is included in the government’s proposals, if not at the front and center.”

Tattooing Bitcoin: Advocates wear cryptocurrency on their sleeve

Inked Bitcoin advocates explain privacy, risks and even the pains of getting a Bitcoin tattoo, a growing trend in the community.

Got Bitcoin ink? Many Bitcoin believers do. But what are the risks? What about privacy? And what happens if — one fateful day — Bitcoin crashes and burns to zero?

Cointelegraph spoke with Bitcoin (BTC) advocates to understand why they have permanently etched a Bitcoin logo, motif, equation or slogan onto their skin. They’ve shown permanent solidarity with the decentralized movement, expressing their support for the Bitcoin protocol and the values it represents.

Taihuttu’s Bitcoin B tatto. Source Taihuttu.

Didi Taihuttu, father of the “Bitcoin family,” explained that he inked himself the moment he went “all in on Bitcoin as I thought it was a very important step in my life.” A familiar face among the crypto community, Taihuttu sold all of his family’s possessions and slept in a campsite while the price of Bitcoin was in the four-figure territory with the “B” etched on his arm.

He now travels the world evangelizing Bitcoin, with his forearm on full view:

“Bitcoin changed my way of thinking about the world and decentralizing it.”

Anita Posch, another globetrotting Bitcoin evangelist, has a lightning bolt tattooed on her forearm. In the Human B Bitcoin documentary film, she said she wouldn’t explain that the lightning bolt symbol (a nod to the Lightning Network) on her wrist is Bitcoin-related but added “Bitcoin is my life” in follow-up comments.

TatumTurnUp and Erik Dale have the Bitcoin supply formula on their skin. Source: Tatum

TatumTurnUP (not his real name), the host of the Bitcoin show “Between Two Asics,” explained that he got his tattoo of the BTC supply formula because “It’s what proves scarcity.”

“Monetary scarcity is something we’ve been deprived of until Bitcoin, and the fact I can write down what proves there will only ever be a certain amount of Bitcoin is a pretty big deal.”

The tattoo on his bicep is a common (but unfortunately not strictly accurate) formula for the supply of Bitcoin. He shared a warning with readers: “The bottom of the Sigma might be the most painful thing I ever experienced. Just a forewarning.”

But what about OpSec?

However, isn’t it risky to advertise one’s love of a digital currency on one’s skin? OpSec, or operational security, is a military term the internet has hijacked. Among the crypto community, it refers to the public sharing of identity or defining features. And a Bitcoin tattoo could put a literal target on one’s back. 

Erik Dale, whose tattoos are pictured in the above tweet, founded Norway’s “Northern Lightning” conference series. Dale told Cointelegraph he was aware of the implications. His tattoos are “Equations, no logos or tribal markers, for OpSec reasons.”

“Insiders should realize what they are, but not casual observers.”

Rikki, of content creators and investigators Bitcoin Explorers, joked, “We are not particularly concerned about bad opsec.” He added another Bitcoin tattoo to his collection during a giveaway in Guatemala. 

Bad OpSec can lead to doxing or the public reveal of people’s personal data. That’s why some Bitcoin advocates mask their online identities, using anonymous profiles on social media. Not so for Rikki and his partner Laura; they have their Bitcoin support on full view.

Rikki and Laura’s tattoos. “Stack Sats” means save Bitcoin. Source: Rikki.

Piero Coen, the co-founder of Guatemala-based Osmo Wallet, told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin is a “counterculture movement, and getting a tattoo related to it is a way to show our commitment to this movement.”

“It’s like a badge of honor, showing that we are part of this group of ‘pirates’ who are challenging the traditional financial system and are convinced we’re going to change the world. “

Besides, for Rikki and Laura, much of their lives already permanently exists on camera. Rikki explained:

“We are Bitcoin content creators, and so we chose to give up our privacy years ago. Besides, there aren’t just the slightly paranoid, scheming, pessimistic, terra plat-prone Bitcoiners — there are also us, the good-looking, nice, fun, cool and sex-loving Bitcoiners!”

Laura put it even more succinctly in a recent tweet: 

For Tatum, another content creator and a recognizable face in the Bitcoin space, “Value is teaching people about Bitcoin and networking through it, so there’s a constant battle with opsec.”

“At the bottom of it, I am comfortable with my own security and what I do and do not share, but ‘WHY I love Bitcoin’ is always going to be shared.”

Tatum walks around Bitcoin conferences wearing a bulletproof vest in a jocular nod to operational security in the Bitcoin space.

Tatum interviewing guests in a security vest at Pacific Bitcoin 2022. Source: Tatum

But what if Bitcoin goes to zero? 

Unlike tweets, open letters or company creation, Bitcoin tattoos are tricky to delete. They require commitment. 

So what happens if the currency goes to zero, like many other failed projects from Terra to Celsius? Tatum explained, well, “sucks for me!”

“After I got it, I jokingly said, ‘Now I really hope it doesn’t go to zero or I’ll look like an idiot.’ But in reality, my tattoo is kind of why it never will go to zero. If one person finds value in Bitcoin, there’s only ever going to be so many. So they will have value.”

Billionaire Mike Novogratz’s tattoo of the failed Terra (LUNA) token is an eternal reminder of the headiness and hedonism accompanying crypto bull runs. The tattoo remains on Novogratz’s arm, while LUNA is worth next to nothing, and its creator, Do Kwon, might be facing jail time. Fortunately, Novogratz says he learned from the experience saying investing “requires humility.“

Dale explained he’s prepared to live with the tattoos on his wrists even if Bitcoin does fail. He’s committed until the very end: “If I’m wrong about this, I want to carry that reminder every day. And if not, I can’t imagine a prouder badge to wear for the rest of my days.” 

Related: Novogratz says LUNA tattoo is a constant reminder investing ‘requires humility’

For Taihuttu, it’s important to zoom out and focus on the bigger picture. Bitcoin is a long-term play:

“I believe that people who have tattoos from dollar signs or other fiat have a bigger chance of going to 0.”

He’s right; famous rappers and celebrities, including singer Kesha and actor Lena Dunham, have been inked with dollar sign tattoos. It’s unlikely that they were asked if the dollar would go to zero prior to sitting in the tattoo artist’s chair.

Kesha’s dollar sign tattoo. Source: popstartats.com

On a sober note, Taihuttu explained that regardless of the Bitcoin movement underway, the large tattoo on his forearm represents “an amazing 10 years of my and my family’s life since 2013, the year that I started mining Bitcoin.” And that’s more than enough reason to get Bitcoin ink.

Mt. Gox registration deadline pushed for another month

Mt. Gox creditors have another month to file for their claims as the registration deadline was pushed back by another month.

The registration dates for Mt. Gox creditors have been pushed back by another month. According to the announcement, the deadline has been moved from March 10 to April 6, allowing creditors to file claims for another month.

The distribution deadline has been pushed back by another month as well. The distribution of assets to creditors will now start from Oct. 31 instead of Sept. 30.

The official document cited various circumstances for the shift in deadlines, such as the progress by rehabilitation creditors in respect of the selection and registration. Creditors have the option of a lump-sum payment, bank remittance, fund transfer service provider or going through a cryptocurrency exchange or custodian.

Creditors have been waiting for years to get compensated for losses incurred because of the exchange hack in 2014. Mt. Gox was a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange that once accounted for more than 70% of Bitcoin transactions. In 2014, the exchange was hacked and filed for bankruptcy after thousands of Bitcoin (BTC) were stolen.

As Cointelegraph reported in February, Mt. Gox Investment Fund — the largest creditor of the defunct crypto exchange — chose to have an early payout in Bitcoin rather than wait longer for an even larger payment after a legal battle. The early payout meant creditors would receive approximately 90% of what was due. The bankruptcy trustee doesn’t have to sell tokens to acquire fiat funds for the payment since the creditor also chose to be paid in BTC.

The extension in deadline means other creditors will have another month to decide whether to take the lower amount now or wait another nine years to get the full amount. 

The Mt. Gox creditor payout has been in focus for quite some time now, especially considering the value of BTC has increased multifold since the exchange went bust. There has been speculation about the impact of Mt. Gox creditors on the market if they decided to sell their holdings. However, a report from Bloomberg has noted that the largest Mt. Gox creditors have no plans to sell their BTC.

Bitcoin thought leaders weigh the pros and cons of Ordinals

What do Bitcoin ecosystem CEOs make of Ordinals, and what does the video game Doom have to do with it?

Ordinals are here to stay. Ordinals, or the ability to permanently ink the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain with data, typically in the format of a picture or JPEG, are a controversial topic among some members of the Bitcoin and wider crypto community. Not so for the builders and the CEOs of Bitcoin-focused companies who were present at the Advancing Bitcoin conference in London. 

Cointelegraph asked several CEOs, builders and key opinion leaders for their views on Ordinals throughout the conference. The overarching sentiment ranged from curiosity to indifference to deference.

Alex Leishman, CEO of River, told Cointelegraph that he doesn’t have a stance on ordinals just yet, but has recently been gifted an Ordinal:

“In the abstract, the idea of having this sort of like meta-layer on top of Bitcoin that tracks Sats; that has a separate state or mapping onto the blockchain is really fascinating and could potentially be interesting for other things.”

For example, Leishman said he recently played a clone of the classic computer game Doom (called Yet Another Doom Clone) on an Ordinal. “Someone had embedded Doom in JavaScript and in a small web page in an Ordinal,” which Leishman loaded up from the blockchain. 

Real gameplay of Yet Another Doom Clone loaded from an Ordinal. Source

Eric Sirion, co-founder of and advisor to Fedi, and maintainer of the open-source protocol Fedimint, told Cointelegraph that he’s also “pretty neutral” on Ordinals:

“Essentially, we cannot do anything about it in a way that is morally consistent. Like if we try to fight it, what gives us the right to do that? And also, we cannot effectively fight it. […] So yeah, why get worked up about it?”

Sirion added that he’s not necessarily a fan of Ordinals as they might blow up the blockchain a bit, but said: “Who am I to tell other people what to do with the fees they pay like?”

The Bitcoin blockchain has since “bloated,” reaching an average block size all-time high, but fees have remained more or less consistent.

Average block size has soared higher since ordinals. Source: Blockchain.com

Benoit Mazouk, CEO of U.K.-based Bitcoin exchange BitcoinPoint, shared Sirion’s concerns about blockchain congestion. Mazouk explained that while he understands key Bitcoin opinion leaders, such as Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who commented that ordinals are “useless,” he’s “more into Bitcoin as a currency.” 

Perhaps a greater concern is that users can upload graphic images and offensive data onto the blockchain. Recently, shock porn was uploaded as an Ordinal. 

However, the permanence and censorship resistance works both ways: Leishman states that permanent records for potentially important or culturally significant events can be permanently etched into the blockchain. “Ordinals can eventually become composable and it’s really truly censorship resistant content,” Leishman commented.

Related: Yuga Labs’ first Bitcoin NFT auction nets $16.5M in 24 hours

Christian Keroles, managing director at Bitcoin Magazine, recently posted a culturally topical reference to the censuring of Roahl Dahl books, questioning whether the minting of banned books on the blockchain as a form of preservation would be worthwhile. 

In all, Ordinals are beginning to change the way Bitcoin advocates use and approach Bitcoin. Ordinals offer another use case to the Bitcoin network over its first one: peer-to-peer cash.

“Maybe the Bitcoin database has value for other things, and they’re willing to pay for it, which is good for miners and maybe is what actually.”

Miners have earned more revenue per block since Ordinals’ introduction, while video game fans can rest assured that a recreation of Doom is playable, loaded from the Bitcoin blockchain.

Most blockchain advocates haven’t even used Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the original blockchain, struggles to gain traction among blockchain advocates; an opinion from one of Europe’s largest blockchain conferences.

Bitcoin (BTC) popularised the term blockchain. Blockchains, or “decentralized and distributed digital ledgers used to record transactions across a network of computers,” have been around for over thirty years, the household name for a blockchain is Bitcoin. 

That’s despite the fact that the Genesis block was mined well over 14 years ago when George W. Bush was president and “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas topped the charts–Bitcoin is still top of the blocks.

It’s to be expected, then, that most blockchain advocates would have used, understood or a the very least experimented with Bitcoin.

Nope. Not so.

Speaking with Victoria Gago, co-founder of the European Blockchain Conference. Source: José Val Bal

Here’s an example. While MC’ing at the European Blockchain Conference in February, I asked the audience for a show of hands. I inquired of the circa 250 blockchain believers sitting in front of me:

“Who here has used Bitcoin?”

Maybe 20 audience hands shot up. “Okay. Keep your hand up if you’ve used Bitcoin’s Lightning Network,” I said. The Lightning Network or (LN) is the payments network built on top of Bitcoin which allows near-instant, near-free transactions. Over half those hands went down.

One data sample is insufficient. So, the following day I quizzed the audience on stage. I was surprised to receive the same result. Four-fifths of the blockchain conference audience had never used Bitcoin.

Why is that? Why is it that so few people have touched arguably the only blockchain that solves what is known as the “scalability trilemma;” that of decentralization, security and scalability?

The Bitcoin blockchain, or timechain as Satoshi Nakamoto called it in the white paper, is still relatively small. Anyone with an old laptop can download the entirety of all transactions in order to run a node; the network can scale to reach millions and soon billions of people with layers, while the Bitcoin blockchain has never been hacked. And yet at the blockchain conference, very few attendees run nodes or have transacted on Bitcoin.

However, there are not enough data points to yet form this conclusion. I wanted to quiz individuals across the conference if they were blockchainers or Bitcoiners–and if so, why is that the case?

I quizzed conference-goers about a simple question. I asked around 15 conference goers to choose Web3 or Web5, and only one person of the fifteen chose Web5. Ironically, the sole Web5 proponent in the interview is Bitcoiner Antonia Roupell, whose job title is “Web3 lead” for Save the Children.

Most respondents looked confused when presented with the choice of webs. “What is Web5?” They queried.

Web3 is a world of reportedly decentralized blockchains in which tokens (and token sales) drive the economy forward; Web5 is the decentralized internet built on Bitcoin. Naturally, Bitcoin maximalist Jack Dorsey champions Web5. 

Dorsey explained in December 2021 that Web5 will allow true ownership of identity and data, unlike Web3. Dorsey explains that “Web3″ has the “Same corporate incentives [as Twitter] but hides it under “decentralization.”

The Twitter founder reckons Web3 will never achieve true decentralization as underneath the marketing spiel and tokenomics it’s the venture capitalists and limited Partners who own the blockchains and the data underpinning the systems.

Web5 already boasts social media applications such as Zion in which users can easily send Bitcoin to one another and own their data, built atop one decentralized blockchain and. Which blockchain? You guessed it, Bitcoin. 

Source: areweweb5yet.com

Web3 has existed since Ethereum coder Gavin Wood coined the term in 2014 and thus has more time on its side. Plus it’s a catchy, catch-all term that is often used interchangeably with blockchain, crypto and metaverse. It’s hard to define, underline or frame without referring to financially lucrative projects. 

It finally struck me that the focus of most attendees at the European Blockchain Convention was business over Bitcoin. Or to put it another way–and to attempt to be a little less naive–the attendees wanted to make money over work towards a new monetary policy.

Moderating a panel on Web3 during the conference. Source: José Val Bal

I had the same experience when discussing Nostr, which stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays. The relatively new, decentralized network enables private messaging and uncensorable communication–among other projects. 

One of the applications of Nostr, called iPhone app Damus, helped Nostr reach nearly half a million daily users in mid-February. User count multiplied by 5 since its listing on the Apple iOS store and the protocol is full of Bitcoin advocates.

I asked conference attendees for their public key so I could follow them on Nostr. I was met with bemused looks. The blockchain believers and champions of decentralized protocols had not tested nor heard of Damus.

Nostr explained by nostr.com

Do you want one more example?

An employee at a popular Bitcoin company–who I won’t dox in this opinion piece–approached me during the conference. “I saw you sending sats to people on stage. You sound like a [Bitcoin] maxi,” he joked. 

“Guilty, officer” I joked. I only hold Bitcoin and am passionate about bringing Bitcoin to the world, especially those living in financially kneecapped countries.

“You would probably recognize the company I represent then. I work for Blockstream.”

Of course! I told him. I actually played Jenga in the park with Blockstream’s CEO, Adam Back, recently. We immediately bonded.

Related: Regulation stole the show at Barcelona’s European Blockchain Convention

The Blockstream employee confided in me that not a single conferencegoer had clocked his employer. Blockstream is a well-known Bitcoin companies. Blockstream pioneers lightning adoption, side chains, affordable hardware wallets and liquid, while Back was one of the few names mentioned in the Bitcoin white paper published in 2008.

He shared his surprise with me, but it was 5pm on the last day of the conference–by this point I understood. “It’s a Bitcoin company, mate” I explained. And after all, “Bitcoin and blockchain don’t really mix.” Bitcoin has a marketing problem, I said.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Most blockchain advocates haven‘t even used Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the original blockchain, struggles to gain traction among blockchain advocates — an opinion from one of Europe’s largest blockchain conferences.

Bitcoin (BTC) popularised the term blockchain. While blockchains, or decentralized and distributed digital ledgers used to record transactions across a network of computers, have been around for over 30 years, Bitcoin is the household name for a blockchain. 

That’s despite the fact that the genesis block was mined well over 14 years ago, when George W. Bush was president of the United States and “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas topped the charts. Bitcoin, however, is still top of the blocks.

It’s to be expected, then, that most blockchain advocates have used, understood or — at the very least — experimented with Bitcoin.

Nope. Not so.

Speaking with Victoria Gago, co-founder of the European Blockchain Convention. Source: José Val Bal

Here’s an example. While emceeing at the European Blockchain Convention in February, I asked the roughly 250 blockchain believers sitting in front of me in the audience for a show of hands:

“Who here has used Bitcoin?”

Maybe 20 hands in the audience shot up. “Okay. Keep your hand up if you’ve used Bitcoin’s Lightning Network,” I said. The Lightning Network is a payments network built on top of Bitcoin that allows near-instant, near-free transactions. Over half those hands went down.

One data sample is insufficient. So, the following day, I asked the audience on stage. I was surprised to receive the same result. Four-fifths of the blockchain conference audience had never used Bitcoin.

Why is that? Why is it that so few people have touched arguably the only blockchain that solves what is known as the “scalability trilemma” — that of decentralization, security and scalability?

The Bitcoin blockchain — or “timechain,” as Satoshi Nakamoto called it in the Bitcoin white paper — is still relatively small. Anyone with an old laptop can download the entirety of transactions in order to run a node. The network can scale to reach millions and soon billions of people with layers, and the Bitcoin blockchain has never been hacked. And yet at the blockchain conference, very few attendees said they run nodes or have transacted on Bitcoin.

However, there are not enough data points yet to form this conclusion. I wanted to quiz individuals across the conference to see if they were blockchainers or Bitcoiners — and if so, why was that the case?

I quizzed conference-goers with a simple question. I asked around 15 people to choose Web3 or Web5, and only one person chose Web5. Ironically, the sole Web5 proponent was Bitcoiner Antonia Roupell, whose job title is “Web3 lead” for Save the Children.

Most respondents looked confused when presented with the choice of webs. “What is Web5?” hey queried.

Web3 is a world of reportedly decentralized blockchains in which tokens (and token sales) drive the economy forward, while Web5 is the decentralized internet built on Bitcoin. Naturally, Bitcoin maximalist Jack Dorsey champions Web5. 

Dorsey explained in December 2021 that Web5 would allow true ownership of identity and data, unlike Web3. He highlighted that “Web3” has the “same corporate incentives [as Twitter] but hides it under ‘decentralization.’”

The Twitter founder reckons Web3 will never achieve true decentralization, as underneath the marketing spiel and tokenomics, it’s the venture capitalists and limited partners who own the blockchains and the data underpinning the systems.

Web5 already boasts social media applications such as Zion in which users can easily send BTC to one another and own their data, built atop one decentralized blockchain. Which blockchain? You guessed it, Bitcoin. 

Source: Are We Web5 Yet?

Web3 has existed since Ethereum coder Gavin Wood coined the term in 2014 and thus has more time on its side. Plus, it’s a catchy, catch-all term that is often used interchangeably with blockchain, crypto and the metaverse. It’s hard to define, underline or frame without referring to financially lucrative projects. 

It finally struck me that the focus of most attendees at the European Blockchain Convention was business over Bitcoin. Or to put it another way — and to attempt to be a little less naive — the attendees wanted to make money over working toward a new monetary policy.

Moderating a panel on Web3 during the conference. Source: José Val Bal

I had the same experience when discussing Nostr, which stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays. The relatively new decentralized network enables private messaging and uncensorable communication, among other projects. 

One of the applications of Nostr, the iPhone app Damus, helped Nostr reach nearly half a million daily users in mid-February. Its user count has multiplied by five since its listing on the Apple iOS store, and the protocol is full of Bitcoin advocates.

I asked conference attendees for their public key so I could follow them on Nostr. I was met with bemused looks. The blockchain believers and champions of decentralized protocols had not tested nor heard of Damus.

Nostr, as explained by Nostr.

Do you want one more example?

An employee at a popular Bitcoin company (who I won’t dox in this opinion piece) approached me during the conference. “I saw you sending sats to people on stage. You sound like a [Bitcoin] maxi,” he joked. 

“Guilty, officer,” I joked. I only hold BTC and am passionate about bringing i to the world, especially those living in financially kneecapped countries.

“You would probably recognize the company I represent then. I work for Blockstream.”

“Of course!” I told him. I actually played Jenga in the park with Blockstream’s CEO, Adam Back, recently. We immediately bonded.

Related: Regulation stole the show at Barcelona’s European Blockchain Convention

The Blockstream employee confided in me that not a single conferencegoer had clocked his employer. Blockstream is a well-known Bitcoin company that pioneers Lightning adoption, sidechains, affordable hardware wallets and Liquid, and Back is one of the few names mentioned in the Bitcoin white paper published in 2008.

He shared his surprise with me, but it was 5:00 pm on the last day of the conference — by this point, I understood. “It’s a Bitcoin company, mate,” I explained. And after all, “Bitcoin and blockchain don’t really mix.” “Bitcoin has a marketing problem,” I said.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

BIS head claims fiat won battle with crypto, Bitcoin community disagrees

BIS general manager Agustín Carstens reckons the war between fiat and crypto has been won by fiat. The community disagrees.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has long taken a cautious approach to Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies. However, there is no need for caution anymore as the “battle has been won” between fiat and crypto, according to BIS.

BIS general manager Agustín Carstens, who made the claim, highlighted that “technology doesn’t make for trusted money,” among further criticisms of crypto in an interview with Bloomberg.

As the central bank for central banks, the BIS has emphasized the need for regulation and risk management in the crypto space, but claiming the crypto vs. fiat battle has been won sparked outrage, satire and corrections among the Bitcoin and crypto community.

Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful and vocal Bitcoin maximalist, told Cointelegraph that it’s “easy to get sucked into these battles but is all a distraction with no ROI.“ He continued, “We must focus on the battles in the global south and fight for every inch and every eyeball. What is happening in Nigeria now is vital for us all.“

“Want to p*ss the clowns off? Ignore their FUD bait and focus all in on the global south and what is happening on the streets of nigeria.“ 

Saifedean Ammous, the author of The Bitcoin Standard, brought Carsten’s statement to his followers’ attention, provoking condemnation and concern in the comments. Florida-based Bitcoin advocate SVN (not his real name), whose frozen bank account prompted a switch to go all in on Bitcoin, told Cointelegraph, “these people are clowns.”

Meanwhile, Lady Anarki, a Bitcoin advocate who recently closed a Bitcoin Security Education company, explained that “fiat and crypto are essentially the same exact scam.”

“For fiat, it is nefarious elite oligarchs creating a rigged game system to enrich themselves while making everyone else poorer. Bitcoin is a technology designed with incentives and sound economic principles that enriches anyone who brings value to the world.”

Bitcoin losing the “war” for money, as Carstens explained, is another reference to the fact that Bitcoin has been declared dead, dead and dead again. The 2022 and 2023 bear market is no different, and Bitcoin advocates on Twitter seized the opportunity to mock financial experts dancing on the imaginary grave of the decentralized currency. 

Nonetheless, Bitcoin is up over 40% from its 2022 lows, and Lightning Network adoption flourishes while the community appears increasingly vocal.

What Bitcoin Did, the popular podcast hosted by Peter McCormack, tweeted some handy statistics to correct another inflammatory statement published by the BIS this week. Notably, from August 2015 to December 2022, the BIS explained that “nearly all economies made losses on their Bitcoin holdings.”

As shown, the Bitcoin price continues to trend higher despite the BIS’ best efforts to the contrary.

The BIS has been a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies, citing concerns about their volatility, scalability and energy consumption. However, the BIS has researched stablecoins and spearheads the development of central bank digital currencies in partnership with several countries, juxtaposing Carsten’s comment in the Bloomberg interview that tech “doesn’t make for trusted money.”

Related: Coinbase staking ‘fundamentally different’ to Kraken’s — chief lawyer

Willem Middelkoop, author and Bitcoin advocate, highlighted that the war between fiat and crypto is far from over. A cursory scroll through the comments on the original tweet from Bloomberg Crypto would suggest that the war is just heating up.

How the Ordinals movement will benefit the Bitcoin blockchain

The increasing popularity of Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, will positively impact the Bitcoin network’s security and attract developers to the ecosystem, according to Ordinals proponent Udi Wertheimer.

According to independent developer Udi Wertheimer, Bitcoin (BTC) non fungible tokens (NFTs) will positively impact the ecosystem by improving its security and incentivizing developers to build on the network. 

The number of newly created Ordinals has been spiking in recent weeks, causing a surge in transaction fees and average block size on the Bitcoin blockchain. 

According to Wertheimer, Bitcoin NFTs are going to be beneficial for Bitcoin’s security budget. By driving up transaction fees, the creation of Ordinals will incentivize miners to secure the network while the revenue from mining rewards will decrease with each Bitcoin halving.

“Because the block space is scarce and because there’s demand for stuff like inscriptions, there’s a lot of hope that we will get enough people who want to pay fees in order to keep the Bitcoin network secure,” Wertheimer explained in a recent interview with Cointelegraph.

Also, Wertheimer noted, Ordinals provide a new use case to make building on Bitcoin commercially profitable.

“With all of that interest around Ordinals and inscriptions, I expect that there is going to be a very big ecosystem that is built around that,” he said.

Wertheimer dismisses the notion held by some Bitcoin core developers that creating NFTs is not an appropriate use case for Bitcoin. According to him, in recent years, Bitcoin core developers “have ignored what actual Bitcoin users want.“

To learn more about Ordinals and how they impact the Bitcoin network, watch the full interview on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe!

UK think tank launches a crusade against ‘surveillance’ CBDCs

The Bank of England’s plans for a CBDC launch raise concern among U.K. Tax Reform Council and the broader Bitcoin community.

The United Kingdom Tax Reform Council has launched a campaign against the Bank of England’s plan to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The nonprofit organization warns that such a move could seriously harm individual privacy and lead to intrusive changes to the taxation system.

The freshly formed Tax Reform Council includes monetary economist John Chown, co-founder of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on its advisory board. The Tax Reform Council believes implementing a CBDC would lead to increased government surveillance, greater intrusion from tax authorities and a heightened risk of cyberattacks on the nation’s monetary system.

The think tank shares similar concerns to the U.K. Bitcoin (BTC) community, which has been vocal in its criticism of CBDCs. Jordan Walker, co-founder of the U.K.’s Bitcoin Collective, explained that “the rollout of CBDCs in the U.K. is dangerous on a matter of fronts. We would be handing over more control of our money to the government and central bank.”

“This ties the monetary system even closer to the political system which has caused significant problems in the past and present. Instead we should be aiming to separate money and politics.”

The advisory board economists, including Patrick Minford, Julian Jessop and Chown, stated that “the decision of the Bank of England to pursue a British CBDC raises a number of very real concerns.” The group seeks to raise awareness of the “increased government surveillance” that CBDCs may offer.

CBDCs claim to offer greater financial inclusion, reduced costs for businesses and consumers, and increased security. However, Bitcoin already offers these advantages and more: El Salvador banked swathes of its population by introducing the Bitcoin law, while Bitcoin also provides a way out for those living in authoritarian regimes.

In the U.K., the Treasury and the Bank of England have been recruiting for CBDC roles. The Bank of England has highlighted the “need” to create a digital version of the British pound despite pushback from the broader crypto community. 

Related: UAE central bank to issue CBDC as part of its financial transformation program

According to the Tax Reform Council, every personal transaction made using a CBDC would be recorded on the Bank of England’s private blockchain ledger, giving the taxman unprecedented access to individuals’ financial history. The press release stated that this is already happening in China with the renminbi CBDC.

Walker sounded the alarm: “I believe we are closer to the rollout than many think and unless we have greater education around this topic, we’ll see many people in this country unknowingly get sucked into this digitized monetary control.”