US Bitcoin Policy Summit: It’s time for the US to embrace crypto
Tomorrow is the start of The Bitcoin Policy Summit in Washington DC, a one-day, invite-only policy conference exploring Bitcoin as a strategic opportunity for the United States.
This exclusive conference will focus on the core questions. Here I attempt to provide some ideas that I would hope the senators, congressional leaders, businesspeople and commentators might consider.
How is Bitcoin a human rights tool used in the struggle for democracy and global freedom?
Bitcoin is a force for social good as it can offer a way out of both financial and political repression. It’s estimated that more than one billion people live in countries that are suffering from out-of-control inflation, where the money they earn depreciates fast against the goods and services they need to buy.
But Bitcoin can offer a ‘get-out’ for those whose national currency is plummeting in value in this way.
Bitcoin can also serve those who face political suppression. There are countless examples around the world where those who are dissenting against ruling authoritarian regimes have their accounts shuttered and/or funds stolen. This means they are then trapped, possibly forever.
This is where Bitcoin can play a hugely beneficial role as they can receive and send it safely and securely, without censorship.
As a global, decentralised system, it affords anybody, anywhere, regardless of their political beliefs, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexuality, the same level playing field – simply because it cannot discriminate.
This is helping not only the politically repressed but the 1.7 billion global ‘unbanked’ population. That’s almost two billion people worldwide who cannot access financial services because their data is not held on ‘traditional’ sources, largely due to legacy biases.
How can the US leverage Bitcoin as a strategic asset to achieve its geopolitical goals?
The US dollar has reigned supreme for around 75 years. But there’s no doubt that the world is shifting away from a dollar-dominated system.
This is because astronomic levels of debt, and the enormous, ongoing amount of money printing to monetise these debts, have caused the considerable drop in the long-term value of the global reserve currency.
In addition, the US dollar’s dominance is in decline as Russia and Saudi Arabia eye the Chinese yuan for oil trades.
Oil is one of the most important and widely traded commodities in the world, and it has traditionally been priced and traded in US dollars. This has given the US dollar a dominant role in global financial markets, as countries that want to purchase oil must first acquire US dollars in order to do so.
If oil trading were to shift away from the US dollar, it would dramatically reduce the demand for US dollars, which would lead to a decrease in the value of the US currency. This could have a number of ripple effects throughout the global economy, including hugely increased inflation in the United States and potentially destabilising effects on financial markets.
The US should be using Bitcoin, a global, digital and borderless currency, in tandem with the US dollar to help combat China’s increasing influence over the international financial system, if this is one of their aims, as the world moves away from the dollar and is ever-more driven by tech.
How can Bitcoin serve as a unique stabiliser of energy grids and an unlikely player in our country’s renewable energy future?
Here comes the bit that crypto cynics and Bitcoin bashers really hate: Bitcoin mining can be beneficial to the energy grid and good for the environment.
Bitcoin mining can incentivise the development and use of renewable energy sources, such as hydro, solar, and wind power. Miners are always looking for cheaper energy sources to reduce their costs and increase profits, and renewable energy sources can provide a cost-effective solution in areas with ample natural resources.
In many cases, miners have set up shop in areas where excess energy is produced but underutilised, such as in remote regions where renewable energy sources are abundant but local demand is low.
By using this excess energy, miners can help prevent it from going to waste and offset the need for non-renewable energy sources to be used and stops taxpayers from having to subsidise the generation of it.
Mining also provides a financial incentive for the development of more efficient and sustainable hardware. As competition among miners intensifies, miners are forced to upgrade their equipment and find more energy-efficient ways of mining to remain profitable.
This leads to innovation in hardware design and development that ultimately will reduce energy consumption and environmental impact across the board.
Bitcoin mining should be recognised as an effective weapon in the fight for a lower emissions future.
I hope the summit provides the catalyst for the US to embrace the enormous potential of Bitcoin. It’s about time.