https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/the-union-of-bitcoin-and-the-climate-change-agenda

Don’t worry, this isn’t an article to either espouse or attack the current global climate change agenda. Debating whether the earth will perish in a few years or not isn’t my plan. While not only being a believer and investor in the Bitcoin echo-system, I am also an avid supporter of start-ups and innovators supporting green technologies to provide for a more energy efficient future. Here I simply want to discuss how Bitcoiners should adopt the concepts quite effectively applied by the global climate change movement under their green investment proposals to also promote expanded Bitcoin adoption. These are techniques that I have seen implemented first-hand among the climate change posse.

While there are certainly natural reasons to adopt Bitcoin, especially considering the world’s current turmoil in banking and monetary systems, Bitcoiners can’t simply keep relying upon these periodic bouts of crisis as the main driving force to expand adoption. Bombastic shout-outs that the crisis is here under a Bitcoin lexicon are all too often used and easily can just hit on deaf ears. Also, posting that you paid for a latte at McDonald’s in Bitcoin or sending a stranger on the street 100 sats to their new wallet are not activities equal to the high level of professionalism used under the coordinated symphony of the climate change echo-system as they move their agenda forward. Further, simply saying the “other side is evil” will only get us so far and when I say “other side” I mean the fiat world. Bitcoiners need to implement more state-of-the-art and systematic methods if we want to reach the next level of adoption. We need to stay away from the likes of dancing wizards.

To achieve this, Bitcoiners can follow and blend with other globally promoted agendas like that of climate change to better gain recognition. The climate change movement is often trying to portray Bitcoin as a threat. If we latch onto the same tactics and approaches applied by the climate change movement to promote themselves, integrating these tactics into our tool basket to support Bitcoin adoption, we can’t be ignored, belittled, or excluded.

The timing to consider how Bitcoiners can expand our tactics drawing from the climate change agenda cannot be more perfect as the current planned United Nations Climate Change conference, referred to as COP28, will be held from 30 November to 12 December here in Dubai.

Time Preference for Bitcoin and Green Investments

The global climate change movement makes the case that investing in green projects today, even though current societal costs can be large, will result in greater future benefits for everyone. To support this thesis, they loosely utilize the concepts applied in finance and economics including discount rates, present values, cost-benefit analysis, and propensities to save or spend. Bitcoin is also a natural case to apply this thesis. We need to show that saving today through investing in Bitcoin will result in a larger wealth outcome in the future and greater societal benefits. Bitcoiners often discuss time preferences related to spending or savings as is explained in the “Bitcoin Standard”. To demonstrate this better we should apply the concepts of a Social Discount Rate (SDR) and a “Just Transition” as is utilized by the climate change movement.

Applying the Social Discount Rate to Bitcoin Adoption

In simple terms the SDR is the discount rate used to calculate the present value of future societal benefits realized from green investments today. For the climate change movement, this applies to things like building electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, installing solar arrays, or perhaps building bike-paths. With these types of societal investments there are public benefits generated that, to some extent, cannot be fully quantified under a pure numerical cost-benefit analysis, nor fit into typical for-profit value calculations.

Governments attempt to discount these future social benefits of investments using the SDR. The rate is higher than traditional “risk-free” rates used in basic finance due to the added vast uncertainties present over the volume of intangible societal benefit might be obtained. The SDR also differs depending on the level of development of a country. A more developed country can have more certainty regarding the future societal benefits realized so the rate they apply is lower.

The SDR is essentially a rate that balances the choice of the public to spend today versus invest for tomorrow to realize implicit societal benefits. The propensity to save balances the propensity to spend when the SDR is applied. I will call this a wealth transfer decision across generations. This example shows that the concepts often discussed regarding Bitcoin adoption and the concepts applied within the global green movement are quite similar. Bitcoiners regularly talk about creating generational wealth, preserving wealth against de-basement and, in the words of Greg Foss to do it “for the kids”.

Bitcoin adoption today by an individual is consideration of the current versus future trade-offs and cost-benefits. Invest today for potential greater benefits in the future or spend today to satisfy present needs. The concept is most often presented through the memes posted of a HODLer’s empty one-room flat with only a mattress on the floor and a mining rig next to it, as they give up everything to invest in their future.

A ”Just Transition” and Bitcoiners

How did the climate change posse so effectively grab the concept of societal benefits and propensities to save to push their agenda and why didn’t we Bitcoiners adopt and apply the same SDR concept as it is clearly a natural fit? Well, before I answer this question, I must explain a parallel concept being used within the climate agenda referred to as a “Just Transition”.

With climate change plans, such as a shift away from fossil fuels to renewables or the move to EVs, the question arises about how normal people will be impacted during the transition. Will the masses lose their jobs if a “dirty” industry is suddenly shut? How will people support their families if they can’t afford to invest in new energy efficiency requirements imposed on their small business?

Of course, to be fair, we must also consider how some people could also be adversely affected by climate changes if, for example, their farms are impacted by desertification. The assessment goes both ways.

The point is not whether climate, weather or natural disasters can have an impact on people, their livelihoods, or their wealth (or lack thereof), but the issue is that people who have lower income, less wealth, or fewer resources available will be less able to mitigate life’s routine risks and also the changing conditions created during a green transition. As if people today don’t already have enough to worry about, add to their concerns the impact of policies imposed by governments under the climate change agenda.

The concept being applied under a “Just Transition” policy is that the negative, transitory impacts of those climate change policies should not hurt common people, especially those at the lower income levels of society. Governments must somehow meet their global climate change commitments under their Nationally Determined Contributions without making things like the wealth gap and poverty worse in the interim. Basically, protect those people least able to assume risk and handle the transition so that they can better preserve their current income and wealth for the future. Doesn’t this sound very similar to the concept of Bitcoin adoption where we are trying to help people protect their wealth for the future?

The climate change movement believes there is an expectation of increased societal benefits in the future, and this outweighs all current costs and hardships assumed by transforming an economy. The benefits outweigh the costs even when the required SDR is applied. The dilemma for a person with lower wealth and income is whether a dollar received today provides them with more utility now against if they invested that dollar to gain more wealth in the future. The climate movement will say that everyone will be better off in the future if they sacrifice now. However, to most people, current concerns and needs will certainly predominate life. Therefore, they will place a higher value on present day spending against investing for the future. Most people think that that they are excellent financial risk managers. Are we all poster-children for the Dunning-Kruger effect? More likely, simple basic human character applies where people just focus on day-to-day survival. They have more propensity and need to spend their wealth and income today. This contradiction affects the level of support for and conformance with the climate change agenda as well as impacting Bitcoin adoption.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

Applying the concept of “Just Transition” to Bitcoiner lexicon would mean asking something like: “What is the future value of being able to retain your individual sovereignty today?” I am drawn here to coin Mastercard’s lingo and simply say that it’s “Priceless“. This example shows how hard it is to truly place a value on something intangible and in the future, regardless of your state of current prosperity to spend or save. Applying pragmatic considerations, the basis for the trade-off between a person’s present and future welfare varies depending on their current capacity to manage and assume risk whether considering Bitcoin investing or their potential support for any green societal investment.

Planning for the Societal Benefits of Bitcoin

There are many commonalities between what Bitcoin promotes and the advertised benefits of the climate change agenda. Bitcoin adoption is a societal benefit. Saving today in Bitcoin will help build wealth for the future. Bitcoin’s benefits are not only for the individual, but also for society. The underlying concepts raised and used by the global climate change movement to garner support can easily be used by Bitcoiners to back further adoption. Bitcoin offers security against de-basement, or in other words preservation of your current wealth and its buying power for the future. Everyone, regardless of their wealth level can utilize it to better support their future livelihood.

Bitcoiners need to better apply the concepts of societal benefits more effectively through the concept of the SDR. Through this we can better express the positives for adoption and lead more people into saving and investing for the future protecting next generations, their children, and grandchildren. Without effective planning to bring in the SDR and the deeper concepts of societal benefits, further Bitcoin adoption will be a challenge.

This groundwork planning supports what even Benjamin Franklin said centuries ago that “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” So, let’s not fail future generations. 

This is a guest post by Enza Coin. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-and-the-arab-spring-lessons-for-revolutionaries-communicating

Bitcoin is a Monetary Revolution

Bitcoin is not simply a new monetary tool, a new currency, or an additional asset class. I tell people that Bitcoin is a Monetary Revolution. The Bitcoin eco-system is full of innovations to bring value beyond simply price growth to new all-time-highs. You can say that the value proposition is built on the foundations of the ever-expanding benefits of the wonder-currency.

After my failed attempt to first invest in Bitcoin in early 2010, I found myself traveling and working in the Middle East, and Egypt in particular, later that year. Inadvertently, the events of the Arab Spring in the region showed me how today the Social Layer of Bitcoin can be a powerful tool supporting Bitcoin adoption.

The year 2010 was the culmination of several visits I made to the region over the previous years that allowed me to amass a large group of friends and colleagues in Egypt. Egypt is a massively impressive country that hosts a grand capital. Cairo is the world’s first truly international metropolis. In some way its ancient wonders mask the multinational and multicultural mix of the city. It is a financial hub, the people are wondrous, friendly, and open to ideas. It is the globe’s first melting pot, having been established as such thousands of years before New York city coined the phrase. I found the most delicious sushi restaurants in Cairo, the best mango and the freshest fish served on the banks of the Nile River brought in from the Alexandria seaside.

Unfortunately, underlying the ancient wonders there existed issues of poverty, political unease, and the impact from regional tensions. I was told that around 1/3rd of the population of Cairo’s approximately 20 million people had trouble feeding themselves daily. Bribes to public servants, while prevalent, were not really the wicked administrative corruption found in the Western world but occurred as a survival mechanism to enable people to simply earn enough money for their daily necessities. The brewing pot of concerns in Egypt and the region ignited the Arab Spring in late 2010 and early 2011.

The Role of Social Media and the Social Layer

When we speak about Bitcoin adoption, we talk about expanding the understanding and knowledge of people. The Bitcoin eco-system is filled with start-ups offering both free and paid services to help the broader public become knowledgeable and comfortable enough to adopt it. Not only is understanding important, the ability for current users to interact and communicate among themselves with clarity and no noise is also vital.

Just as with Bitcoin adoption and the need for a supporting communication framework through the Social Layer, the role of Social Media was equally important in contributing to the events of the Arab Spring. Wikipedia stated that “In the wake of the Arab Spring protests, a considerable amount of attention focused on the role of social media and digital technologies in allowing citizens within areas affected by ‘the Arab Uprisings’ as a means for collective activism to circumvent state-operated media channels.”

In 2010 Facebook was the go-to platform for attempting to communicate semi-noise-free on various topics and connect with like-minded cohorts. It was the organizing tool anchoring a broader Social Layer supported by the likes of WhatsApp and Tango, with the latter being the main used chat app across the Middle East at that time and the mechanism, along with direct old-style phone calls, that I used to keep in touch with my Egyptian friends and colleagues.

Noise and the Social Layer

We all know about and have experienced email spam, fake accounts on various social media portals, and comments from influencers that are masked self-promotions. In the Bitcoin world, we often attribute such noise to the crypto-sphere with the all-to-often “free coin giveaway” promotions.

Noise, or white noise as was written about in the novel titled “White Noise” by Don DeLillo in 1985 that won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction, has haunted Bitcoiners for over a decade. This noise equally impaired efforts during the Arab Spring in allowing clear communication between people. It continues to impair Bitcoiners like myself today, if perhaps under less ominous circumstances.

A social experience or movement can only become an effective Social Layer when noise is lessened. Reducing or removing noise enables development of a usable and supportive Social Layer for Bitcoin.

Lessons for Bitcoiners

During the days of the Arab Spring, reports by mainstream media in the region were highly questioned. The region did not trust the various cable-based news services. This reinforced the role of a Social Layer as the mechanism to communicate and share views, thoughts, and plans. For me, I tried often in vain to keep updated about the events and the safety of my friends. However, news sources were unclear, often conflicting, and biased. I took all this with a grain-of-salt and had to go directly to the sources on the ground, meaning chats with my friends via Tango, following Facebook groups and via old-style phone calls.

Like the noise I experience today when trying to understand and sort through information that is valuable and factual regarding Bitcoin, I experienced the same noise dilemma during the Arab Spring events.

Today I am frustrated when I read a report or see a Tweet commenting on the price of Bitcoin based on some influencer’s supposed “expertise”, only to then find over the next few weeks that Bitcoin rallies to a near-term high. I recall one specific Tweet, just as when Bitcoin hit its recent cycle low, saying that “we should all expect it to hit $10,000.” I am not a trader of Bitcoin but get upset when this type of noise is spread. I also get irritated when I am contacted by someone implying that they are a Bitcoiner only to find out that they just want to connect within the realm of the dating-world and don’t even know how to spell hodl. Back during the Arab Spring, I was equally frustrated when phone calls to colleagues dropped unexpectedly, messages via Tango were cryptic and the Facebook accounts of friends were blocked. With frustration the questions I sent were often unanswered: “Was that you on TV at the march?” “Is your area of Cairo blocked off?”

While today I can say that noise in the Bitcoin world is more of an unreasonable annoyance, to my friends in Egypt noise was a matter of personal well-being or even life-and-death. Social Media then was the means for mobilization and action, a Social Layer. Today the Social Layer of Bitcoin is the mechanism for pursuing further adoption. We are all certainly irritated today when some social media giants block or restrict accounts that discuss Bitcoin. However, can you imagine what it felt like to my Egyptian friends back in 2011 when they could not access their perceived noise-free gateways to understand what their future would hold?

The Monetary Revolution meets the Social Layer Revolution

I have experienced that “Noise” is the adversary of freedom. It impaired my Egyptian friends from effectively supporting their desired national transformation. It also impairs my support for Bitcoin and its Monetary Revolution. A strong Social Layer provides feeling, context and motivation. Just as I felt the angst of my friends day-to-day as they experienced the uncertainties of the Arab Spring, I feel disappointment when I seek to find rigorous and valuable connections in the Bitcoin space that only result in wasted time and false relations. From my first investment in Bitcoin I have supported the development of its echo-system and simultaneously support the role-out of a deep Social Layer so that there can be Less Noise but More Signal.

What I have learned from my experience is that the Social Layer of Bitcoin is creating a Social Revolution for the asset. We need to disrupt old modes of communication to assure and protect the ability for real human interaction among Bitcoiners that is not impaired by noise. I don’t want to have my life’s Bitcoin connections held ransom to the whims of whom I meet only randomly. I am taking the seeds of what I learned from the time during the Arab Spring and planting them today in Bitcoin’s Social Layer. Stronger relationships will help to build a stronger Bitcoin.

This is a guest post by Enza Coin. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/how-my-life-in-the-former-yugoslavia-led-me-to-bitcoin

This is an opinion editorial by Enza Coin, a Bitcoin-focused investor and content creator.

Of all countries on Earth, the formerly-named Yugoslavia best reflects all of the prime examples of what Bitcoin “fixes.”

I was born there — grew up, started school and even had my first job there before moving abroad. Now, I have realized that my experiences in Yugoslavia from childhood to adulthood formed my views of the world, its geo-political powers, the value of money or lack thereof, economics and corruption. The events in Lebanon over the last number of years, with the collapse of the economy, are similar to the things that I experienced in the former Yugoslavia decades earlier. No other country in Eastern Europe or even the former Soviet Union experienced the atrocities of what has happened in Yugoslavia. And, as a result, it can be called the poster child for Bitcoin’s adoption.

Yugoslavia, The Poster Child For Bitcoin Adoption

Modern Yugoslavia (technically the “Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia”) was formed after World War II and made up of the crumbled Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where wealth had been pilfered from the people by the royal family, which fled into exile. You know, an “exile” where the masses are left to manage on their own while those who left live in luxury.

The atrocities committed by the German invaders during the war added to the downfall of the former kingdom. Unfortunately, this resulted in the loss of my grandmother and aunt at an internment camp. Fortunately, my father survived by luck, hiding in nearby forests as a mere 5-year-old child.

These events left the country open to the rise of socialism. It was to be a haven for the people, with socialist rights and support for all. For many years, it did function in this way. It was one of the wealthiest of the “Communist block” countries with a standard of living that was high and even matched some regions in Western Europe. Healthcare was good and free, and I saw that education was top notch. Tourists from Western Europe flocked to the country yearly, particularly to the beautiful coastline of the Adriatic Sea each summer. People could travel freely, unlike in other Eastern European countries and the USSR. I recall that one could watch Western television and listen to the radio. You could buy Western newspapers and magazines.

These privileges weren’t allowed in the other parts of the so-called “Iron Curtain.” In fact, Yugoslavia was not part of the Iron Curtain or under the control of the USSR, thanks to the rule of Josip Broz, founder of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The year 1980 saw the beginning of the end of the country, with the death of Broz. For good or bad, he held the diverse group of people living there together. His death sparked the rise of nationalism and what we now coin as debt or “printing-press” economics. The true end came in 1990, which saw the start of the wars of independence, ultimately turning one country into seven.This history also inadvertently sparked my Bitcoin learning cycle.

Learning The Benefits Of Real Money The Hard Way

My experiences in Yugoslavia were key factors through my formative years that led me into my first investment in bitcoin.

I realized what real money is having lived with Yugoslavia’s famed hyperinflation in the early 1990s. Steve Hanke called this “The World’s Greatest Unreported Hyperinflation.”

Inflation peaked at 313,000,000% per month, or 116,000,000,000% per year. The National Bank of Yugoslavia started printing a 500 billion dinar note. I recall my father giving me a stack of dinar paper notes to play with as a child and telling me to simply crumple them into a big ball and practice some basketball shots with my brother, an aspiring basketball player (who is now 6’ 8” and does play). This seemed strange to me at the time, but my father explained that the government had printed so much that the money was worthless. He said that money shouldn’t be created on the whim of the government to use it for its abuses. I guess this taught me what real money needs to be… Bitcoin.

Money Should Have A Limited Supply

Before the central bank printing press inflation really kicked in, my father lent a neighbor 1 million dinar to help him buy some land in 1990. The agreement was to repay it within a couple of years. However, in a not-so-neighborly response, the neighbor did repay the loan plus interest, but chose to do so after major, inflation-induced devaluations of the dinar through 1993. My father said that the million dinar was not even worth enough to buy an orange. Oddly, he really did refer to an orange. Perhaps this was a foreboding that someday I would be orange pilled.

Money Should Be Immune To Seizure

As with everyone in the fiat world, you needed a bank account to live in Yugoslavia. But it was a running joke within the country that everyone’s main hobby was to open bank accounts outside of the country, in places like Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Earnings from jobs outside of the country were kept in foreign banks and any money earned locally was converted into Deutsch marks, Austrian schillings and Swiss francs as quickly as possible. Regardless, we still needed to hold some money in local banks. This money was lost to eternity, due not only to deposits being frozen by the government, but also due to complications from the breakup of Yugoslavia (which included splitting up its banks).

The breakup led to fights over succession of the country’s assets and liabilities by the newly-independent countries and the dissolution of legacy institutions. Legal fights over obligations and their legal successors are still being fought today.

Similarly, I recall the day that my father was to go to the bank with an intention to withdraw all his remaining savings. He became busy with another task and said that he would go the next day. Unluckily, the next morning, it was announced that all deposits were frozen. One day of inadvertent procrastination cost a small bundle. This taught me to not only get things done quickly, but to ensure that I diversify my wealth. This is why I find Bitcoin’s self sovereignty to be one of its most desirable advantages.

Bitcoin Promotes Peace And Freedom

They say that if Bitcoin were adopted by more countries, it could help stop wars inspired by fiat-printing-press-funded governments that are incentivized to support military-industrial complexes and self-serving policies of politicians.

I wish that Bitcoin would have been created 20 years earlier and adopted by Yugoslavia. Perhaps this could have prevented the wars and the breakup of the country. Some 140,000 people’s lives might have been saved.

My memories of the sights and sounds of the war are vivid, from recollections of explosions shaking the windows of my family’s home to cancellations of school. On top of this, the U.S. and other NATO countries believed that they had the moral standing to sanction and embargo all of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Sanctions, inspired by fiat printing presses and the military-industrial complex, simply led to us standing in lines to buy certain foods, the absence of some medications and even seeing NATO planes dropping bombs overhead. Sanctions impact the masses, not the elites who flee with their pockets full of fiat. Fortunately, for the rest of us, now there is Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Supports A Better Future

What I experienced growing up stays with me today and partly drives my motivations in life and my move to Bitcoin. When I first learned about Bitcoin and saw how it could help promote democracy and economic stability, I realized that its game-changing technology is a way for the 99% to fight back against tyranny.

My investment today in bitcoin means more to me than just having financial security. In some way, I feel that with each sat I buy, I can help the world work to a better future, avoiding the sorrows and mistakes of the past like those experienced in the former Yugoslavia. Remember what George Orwell wrote in his book “1984”: “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” To which I will add that a place in the light is the world of Bitcoin.

This is a guest post by Enza Coin. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.