Skatteetaten har vide fullmakter og henter inn mye data, men de bør ikke be om, eller få mer data enn stengt nødvendig 🧐. Veldig bra at @barebitcoin har sendt formell klage for å få ned omfanget 👏👏
https://t.co/VOHffbQIaO
Saken er en superklassisk sentralbankmisforståelse: "bitcoin utfordrer løsningene våre fordi blokkjede er en teknisk innovasjon". Dette er 100% misforstått. Den viktige grunnen til at bitcoin utfordrer NB koker ned til én ting: harde penger som ikke kan manipuleres.
Norway Minister of Energy Terje Aasland just told the world he
❌doesn't understand energy,
❌doesn't understand Bitcoin, and
❌doesn't understand emissions
in one breath, that takes Norway on a journey backwards.
“[Crypto mining] is linked with large greenhouse gas emissions, and is an example of a type of business we do not want in Norway.”
Aasland doesn't have a problem with people using power for watching porn (a much higher energy user), but he has a problem with people using energy for Bitcoin mining.
The ability for the State to decide who has a right to use energy and who does not is by definition discriminatory. If we could universally trust politicians to make good decisions based on the good of the people, then this might not be an issue. But few would be niave enough to bestow such trust on politicians.
Let's pull apart the factual errors in Aasland's statement:
1. It's Bitcoin mining, not crypto mining that's happening in Norway
2. Bitcoin mining like eVs is a zero-emission fully electrified industry. Like eVs it has secondary emissions from the underlying power source. In Norway, that is almost 100% renewable energy. So how can Bitcoin mining in Norway be linked to high emissions? Such a statement shows he doesn't understand, or chooses to mislead people about emissions.
Further, Bitcoin mining has an ultra-high 55% sustainable energy usage, higher than any other global industry or major industrialized nation. That's the industry you're attacking?
3. "We" don't want Bitcoin mining? Did you conduct a survey to establish this? Or are you assuming that your will = the will of the people?
4. Are you aware that Bitcoin mining has had 6 peer reviewed publications emphasising the inaccuracy of prior literature on environmental impact, and endorsing Bitcoin mining's positive environmental externalities. You have just attacked that user of power.
You have just attacked probably the only user of power your country has that has the ability to stabilize grids and normalize energy prices. Clearly there are significant gaps in your understanding of energy, specifically how grid supply and demand works with flexible load consumers like Bitcoin datacenters.
Amazing.
All I can say is good luck Norway.
https://t.co/2rDiPlmTpq