Bitcoin Policy UK

Powering Businesses and Sustainable Growth with Bitcoin

#npub1z74dj8y9xgq3lmz3eyvarzmwxwllhuzewz2exwz5j57tf6jssmss9pd4yx

[Decentra Suze @DecentraSuze]

Digital control is expanding through surveillance, debanking, KYC databases, internet shutdowns and financial repression.

Builders and activists are creating an emerging freedom tech stack of private payments, resilient communication, spyware research, peer to peer funding and practical education.

My latest piece in @Forbes features @CashuBTC, @citizenlab, @hodlhodl, @HRF, @OsloFF, Bitchat, Agora, Nostr and Bitcoin.

With insights from @Farida_N @jsrailton @callebtc @leopoldolopez and @AnyaChekhovich.

Read the full article:

https://t.co/peIqlUzY2H

[Bitcoin Policy UK @bitcoinpolicyuk]

Bury St Edmunds is fast becoming the UK Bitcoin hub!

Local businesses in Bury accepted Bitcoin payments, and the historic Guildhall hosted debates plus a pop up sats market.

Great to see grassroots adoption actively sponsored by @bitcoinhodlco. Their CEO @FreddieNew shared his thoughts on his first visit to the town with Suffolk News.

“The BSEBTC event itself ran like clockwork and struck a lovely balance between celebrating the town and discussing wider issues around saving and spending with Bitcoin.”

Bitcoin Policy UK Director Susie Violet Ward shared her perspective on the social impact:

“People can feel that the world is changing economically, politically and socially, and that’s why interest in Bitcoin and freedom technology is growing. Events like this matter because education, community and open discussion are going to be incredibly important in the years ahead.”

Thank you to the @BSEBTC for delivering a fabulous event.

Full coverage from @SuffolkNewsWire:

https://t.co/lkvrb0fpx5

[Decentra Suze @DecentraSuze]

Bitcoin is often called the best performing asset of the decade.

So I created this 10 year chart to show how big the gap really is.

Orange = Bitcoin
Purple = S&P 500
Yellow = Gold

[Freddie New @freddienew]

Last week, we looked at some quick easy wins to improve your privacy in just a few minutes (post linked in the thread). This week, browsers, searching and cleaning up your digital footprint.

I’m spending a few weeks stepping through the Privacy Toolkit from @bitcoinpolicyuk. This has been thrown into even sharper relief this week by the comments of the incoming head of @Ofcom (the UK’s censorship quango), who sees VPNs as a ‘problem’ and deliberately hasn’t met with any tech companies before formulating policy for a sector he clearly doesn’t understand.

What is also clear is that they want to know absolutely everything about you, at all times, whether you want them to or not. So it’s up to us all to tell them, “No, actually”.

The Chrome browser sends to Google far more information about you, and about your search history, than you might like. The simplest fix is to switch to software and search engines that collect less information; such as @brave.

For those in censorship-heavy countries (like the UK) the @opera browser is another option; it has a built-in VPN that you can toggle on and off, and you can greatly restrict the amount of data that is gathered about you. Using @DuckDuckGo as either your browser, or your default search engine in your browser of choice, is another simple fix.

For maximum privacy, use @torproject’s Tor Browser. It’s slower, but much more private and secure. And you can easily circumvent any restrictions that the censorship junkies want to put in your way.

Finally, in order to scrub some of your personal information that might already have been stolen or sold, check out services such as DeleteMe (@joindeleteme) or Incogni (links to both in the thread). These will remove as much information on you from data brokers as they can.

Next week - email and password habits to improve….

[Decentra Suze @DecentraSuze]

Bitcoin mining is going mainstream. ⚡️

The BitForge Nano Ghost Edition won Silver at the 2026 London Design Awards in both Product Design and Unexpected Design.

This is the coolest piece of nerd kit I’ve ever seen.

It’s a fantastic educational tool. A dedicated chip inside does trillions of cryptographic guesses every second to help secure the Bitcoin network through Proof of Work.

A real lesson in decentralization, connecting money to energy and the power of open source hardware.

It’s cool and educational. What’s not to love?

Thanks Duncan & @TheSoloMiningCo team! I’m solo mining, wish me luck!!

Who else is running a home miner?

@wantclue @kliA90_ @dtvelectronics

[Freddie New @freddienew]

Here in the UK we've traditionally been law abiding. We queue. We don't like fly tipping or littering. But we've also forgotten that it's also the duty of all good citizens to keep our governments in check.

They are not infallible. And unjust laws must be fought.

If you want to be part of this fight, if you want to go on peacefully accessing a free and open internet, if you want to tear down the new Great Firewalls that our governments are building to control our speech and our thought, read the @bitcoinpolicyuk Privacy Toolkit below, and join the fightback.

[Decentra Suze @DecentraSuze]

The hypocrisy of modern digital policy captured in one image.

This @Telegraph cartoon by @Adamstoon1 brilliantly lampoons the political class’s obsession with self declaration and the creation of personal 'safe spaces' to avoid uncomfortable realities.

When it comes to life online the exact opposite principle applies.

While subjective self identification is treated as unquestionable in certain social and political contexts, ordinary citizens face growing demands for rigid algorithmic verification, profiling, and surveillance.

In South Carolina a new law now requires platforms to algorithmically estimate users’ ages with high confidence and re-verify them every 100 hours of activity or face significant penalties.

This creates an obvious contradiction. High trust in self-declared identity where it suits the political agenda but near zero trust in individuals when it comes to the internet.

It makes a mockery of coherent policy by celebrating fluidity in one domain while building expansive surveillance infrastructure in the other.

Zero trust should rely on mathematics, encryption, and local data minimisation rather than handing centralised biometric databases to the state and Big Tech.

Bureaucratic governments are fundamentally incapable of effectively legislating for technologies that move at exponential speeds. The result is heavy handed laws that quickly become obsolete yet remain permanently intrusive.

If we want safety and privacy online we cannot rely on the state or Big Tech to provide it.

Real digital freedom must be built through decentralised tools, privacy tech, and with personal sovereignty in mind.

[Freddie New @freddienew]

Massive thanks to @TheSoloMiningCo for this truly gorgeous Bitforge Ghost Edition. Recovering from @BSEBTC and treated myself by setting up this beauty.

Now solo mining at 2.15 TH/s 🫡

[Bitcoin Policy UK @bitcoinpolicyuk]

https://t.co/5O3PKnDNfx

[TheSoloMiningCo (I Am GPIO) @TheSoloMiningCo]

REALLY looking forward to this tomorrow!

Bury St. Edmunds, UK. Get there if you can!

[Bitcoin Policy UK @bitcoinpolicyuk]

Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day!

On this day in 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz made history by sending 10,000 BTC for two pizzas.

This was the first real world Bitcoin transaction. What started as a pizza order became the moment Bitcoin proved its power as peer-to-peer money.

Today, the UK Bitcoin community is celebrating in style at The Pizza Day Thing in Bury St Edmunds, with artisan pizza, free bar, panel discussions, Lightning demos and local vendors accepting sats at the historic Guildhall.

A huge thanks to @BSEBTC for putting on such a brilliant event.

You can still get tickets here:

https://t.co/4lDqXyqJnd

Hopefully see you in Bury!!

[Bitcoin Policy UK @bitcoinpolicyuk]

https://t.co/P5sbEikw4s

[🇬🇧 The Bitcoin & Crypto Accountant 🇬🇧🚀 @Thesecretinves2]

I will be at Alema at 11am for a Tax Drop in if anyone fancies coming to say Hi

[Bitcoin Policy UK @bitcoinpolicyuk]

https://t.co/TV8dPYuUtT

[Bury St Edmunds Bitcoin @BSEBTC]

GM

[Decentra Suze @DecentraSuze]

Excessive KYC + Data Leaks = Kidnapping & Extortion

Global @Gart_io stats right now:

- 340 reported attacks
- across 59 countries
- 26 fatalities
- +84% YoY
- correlating with Bitcoin price rallies

Regulation and data collection are not protecting people. They're instead building target lists for violent criminals.

Privacy & opsec are going to become survival skills.

Thanks for the wake up call @JoeNakamoto.

[Claudia Tiberius @ClaudiaTiberius]

🍕 This time tomorrow, Bitcoin Pizza Day begins.

The Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds. 18:00–23:00.

£39 all-in. Last chance for tickets tonight.

⚡ [email protected]

👉 https://t.co/yjcnIw0MIf #Bitcoin #BSEBitcoin #BitcoinPizzaDay

[Freddie New @freddienew]

By whom was all this unexpected? Not by us; I assume only by those in the Treasury....

The @thetimes in fairness does focus on something many other papers miss - that the cost of servicing this debt is now north of 100 billion a year. And is likely to get worse from here.

[Freddie New @freddienew]

You may think that your house is the most valuable thing you’ll ever own. But in terms of what the surveillance economy is trying to steal from you, it’s probably your personal data.

Privacy, whether online or in the physical world, is your shield and your armour against governments and corporations who are endlessly attempting to gather, steal or sell your data. At the end of this road is a world where everything you do, everything you buy, everywhere you go, and possibly everything you think and believe, are exposed - whether or not you want it.

If this kind of future doesn’t appeal, there is still a lot you can do. You can start now, and take tiny steps towards a better future, where YOU own your data, and where YOU decide what and how much to reveal.

@bitcoinpolicyuk wrote the Privacy Toolkit for just this reason. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be taking you through the toolkit step by step in a series of weekly posts, looking at the guide section by section. Starting today!

Why Privacy Matters

Privacy, far from being paranoia, is a precondition for freedom. When every transaction is logged, every purchase profiled, and every habit monetised, then you yourself are the product.

Start small with easy wins

Before you do anything else, ask: who are you protecting yourself from? A corporation harvesting data? A stalker? Government overreach? Your threat model determines your tools. One size doesn't fit all, and the Toolkit walks you through how to think about this. Have a look at the tables we set out at the start, and work your way through (as far as you want to go).

Day 1 - What can I do TODAY?

Check Have I Been Pwned (https://t.co/InZhNdRta3) to see if your data has been leaked following a hack. Check your passwords, and if you have been reusing any, come up with some new ones. Enable 2FA everywhere - this alone will stop most account takeovers.

Think about getting a cover for your laptop camera, or even using a piece of tape. You don’t need to be covertly filmed if an attacker takes over your machine. Use cash when you can; this leaves no digital trail for bad actors to follow and to work out what kind of person you are.

Next time - Browsers and cleaning up your digital footprint.

[Bitcoin Magazine @BitcoinMagazine]

WATCH - Bitcoin vs the Surveillance State | Bitcoin Magazine Podcast Ep 9

The fight for Bitcoin isn't just about price, it's about whether we get to keep any financial privacy at all. @DecentraSuze of Bitcoin Policy UK joins @BranBTC on regulators, media FUD, and why Bitcoin is the off-ramp from the surveillance state. 🎙️

Chapters:
2:45 — The State of Bitcoin Regulation Across the Pond 10:30 — The FCA's Flawed Approach to Bitcoin
16:40 — Separating Bitcoin from Crypto
22:00 — The US Regulatory Parallel w/ UK
27:15 — The Rise of Violent Wrench Attacks
32:28 — Susie's 13-Month Battle with the BBC
40:16 — Mainstream Media Misinformation Pipeline
46:09 — Bitcoin Mining as the Solution
52:21 — Real-World Mining Use Cases
57:14 — Stablecoins Are CBDCs by the Back Door

[Bitcoin Policy UK @bitcoinpolicyuk]

Regulatory enforcement requires clarity as well as authority.

There’s an important distinction between operating a cryptoasset business and lawful private peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions.

Well done @Ben_deWaal for pushing the FCA on this.

Full open letter:

https://t.co/fdcjgAhoOe

[₿𝔢𝔫 ∞/2.1Psat ⚡️💊🧠📚🌍🌏Ⓐ🏴🌹 @Ben_deWaal]

Three weeks ago I sent the FCA a formal objection to their misleading statement that "any unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders" in the UK are acting illegally. They've now replied, inadequately. Today I'm publishing the letter as an open letter.
https://t.co/HQEDz3sSPM