I’m now working with Elvis Gwaro, an online journalist from Kenya who is writing parts of the newsletter together with me. Great story behind this 1. I pay him a share of the profits from the newsletter in Bitcoin using lightning. It’s not a lot, but it’s a promising start. Here’s what he told me he’d have to go through if we didn’t. (TLDR: fees, delays and discrimination) “with Paypal there's always the risk of my account being limited or suspended for reasons best known to the PayPal lords. If I was to receive a significant amount from abroad, for instance, $2,000, yet my account typically transacts less than $500, Paypal will halt my account and request me to explain where the money is coming from. Their anti-money-laundering measures often flag people who are doing legit online businesses, especially Africans. I have more than 5 friends who had their accounts suspended for 6 months before they could get their money, despite explaining to Paypal where the money came from. So yes, Bitcoin makes things waaaay easier. Then there’s fees. Paypal charges a currency exchange fee between 3% to 5%. If you send $100, I'll receive $100 in my paypal account. I think you'll incur a transaction cost on your side too. If I want to withdraw the $100 from my account, Paypal will give me an exchange rate that factors in the exchange fee. So for instance, currently the USD dollar exchanges for Ksh 130. Paypal will probably offer me between Ksh 124 and Ksh 126. So I only get between $95 - $97 of the $100 and that's how they make bank from that transaction. It's a big fee.” 2. He originally wrote an article that was well written, but FUD-filled about “6 technologies greener than bitcoin”. I respectfully challenged him. Unlike most journalists I’ve challenged he was more curious to learn than to save face, and started asking questions. Long story short, he realised Bitcoin is good for the environment and write so in his next article. 3. He had the idea of making a payment for the newsletter voluntary. And it worked. Plenty of people got behind the newsletter and started paying a modest amount, that now is helping to support me to do deeper research than I’d otherwise have time for and is really helping Elvis as he looks to see if he can make a living out of writing about and researching bitcoin for online magazines and newsletters. 2 ways you can support him that’ll be a potential win-win for you as well. If you have a newsletter and want someone to write parts, he’s incredibly good: takes on feedback faster than most and produces high quality content. If you’re thinking of a newsletter but don’t want the burden of writing it all, he can help. And of course to shill our newsletter, every subscriber to that is helping him towards his goal of escaping the fiat economy and live on the orange side. He’s within reach already.

If I ran an online #Bitcoin session specially for people new to Bitcoin who'd have friends they'd like to send along? We'd cover: * what Bitcoin is * an investment comparison * how to hold it, simply * some myth debunking * benefits to civilization

We are actively looking to connect with landfill owners globally so we can finance more bitcoin mining. Sites that are currently venting their landfill gas, take in over 1000 tonnes/day and cannot sell power to grid preferred Yes, we give finders fees when projects result.

Whoever attacks bitcoin just ends up making it stronger. For example, GreenpeaceUSA’s attack on bitcoin inspired me to fill in some gaps in their understanding, which apparently had been inspiring more people to do mining. This is the third note I’ve received like this.

A couple of days ago, someone on Twitter asked me “when do you sleep?” Well, at night for 7 hrs at a time generally. I can’t offer anything more revolutionary than that. But I do try to optimise 7 other things that I have found matter more than time.

Art and currency In 2001 Morag Brownlie directed a poignant short film about the dystopian reality that CBDC-style digital currency surveillance could usher in 7 years before #Bitcoin, 13 years before the Chinese Central bank experimented with CBDCs vimeo.com/76185291 (13mins)

Just in: Mining in the supposedly “banned” country of China … 1. Is growing again 2. Is up to 15% of global hashrate 3. Is greener than we thought 4. Just spawned a heat-recycling innovation Full story 👇 www.batcoinz.com/p/issue-009-the-surprising-story-of

Nostr first announcement: I have just joined the advisory board of MARA. Excited to be working with Fred and the team.

10 reasons why meditation is like #Bitcoin  1. It can look useless from the outside 2. You cannot assess it until, with an open mind, you experience it 3. It reveals a Matrix you have the freedom to escape 4. It transforms your life for the better 5. Daily investment is the best approach over time. 6. You don't need any third party's permission to use it / do it 7. Anyone can take it with them anywhere and use any time 8. There are no short-cuts to true understanding, you must put in the time and effort. 9. After 100’s of hours of study/ practice, true believers still won't call themselves “experts” 10. Though it might look like you got in late, it is never too late to start

I want to enable bitcoin payments on my substack newsletter Anyone had experience doing that? I checked out the help centre at opennode. Looks non-trivial!

In case you missed it: the Bitcoin ESG Forecast is out. Featuring: 📈 Analysis shows bad ESG data helped end the last #Bitcoin bullrun ❓ Could that happen again? ♻ New chart contrasts the ESG trend for Bitcoin, Gold Industry & Banking 👼 An unlikely new supporter of Bitcoin mining: WEF www.batcoinz.com/p/issue-007-making-bitcoin-bullruns

Financial Times continues to publish mildly positive stories about Bitcoin. A huge reversal from earlier years. https://www.ft.com/content/4d869e6a-a974-45fe-b204-cb5f85838352

Posted without comment

Nostr first announcement: We’ve now have the capital backing for our first landfill-gas-powered bitcoin mining project One small step closer to taking the bitcoin network emission negative and ending Bitcoin energy FUD We’re now turning our attention to identifying as many landfill sites as we can that fit our brief. If you have contacts in waste management and want to know more about what we’re looking for, send me a Nostr message.

Bitcoin mining methane mitigation just keeps on growing

Coinspeaker

Texas Bitcoin Miners Teamed Up with Argentinian Firms for Sustainable Mining Operations - Coinspeaker

Texas-based bitcoin miner Giga Energy partners with Phoenix Global and Exa Tech to launch sustainable bitcoin mining operation in Argentina.

How Bitcoin is solving the methane problem (Transcript of the talk I gave at Bitcoin Atlantis)

Bitcoin Solving the Methane Problem – bitlyrics

All the crypto media are now holding GreenpeaceUSA to account https://www.ccn.com/news/greenpeace-ripple-donation-allegations-puts-charity-under-scrutiny/

Love this headline because it captures a real shift in the bitcoin mining community. Gone are the days when bitcoin mining companies tried to apologetically defend themselves. They are now counterpunching with interest. This strategy only works because there is now a huge body of peer-reviewed research, independent reports, revisions to old models (Bloomberg Intelligence and Cambridge), and narrative flips from previous antagonists (UN, WEF, Financial Times) now supporting Bitcoin’s environmental merits. Yes, not just saying “it’s not that bad” like in the past but saying either “it is, or has the realistic potential to be very net-positive for the environment.” Bitcoin mining companies are simply no longer taking 101-level nonsense from misinformed legacy NGOs, who have made no effort to learn about bitcoin or engage with bitcoin miners, and instead continue to peddle myths that are out-of-date, out-of-evidence and frankly out-of-integrity (funded by Ripple’s chair to run a smear campaign) GreenpeaceUSA had the chance at the start of this year to review their anti-bitcoin campaign’s (many) mistakes and failures and reach out to the bitcoin community. But have chosen instead to double down on more misinformation, more mistakes, and with it even more loss of credibility with a generation of crypto-native millennials - the very people it should be cultivating as its future base. We are no longer talking about a difference of opinion, we are talking about a grassroots movement of Bitcoiners who have taken the time to understand the nuances of a technology deeply, and a UUHNWI-funded former grassroots movement called GreenpeaceUSA who has not.

Decrypt

Greenpeace Catches Hell for Its ‘Explosive’ Bitcoin Mining Report - Decrypt

Bitcoin mining firms have collectively slammed the U.S. group’s accusations about their impact on the environment.

Nostr seems to encourage both authenticity and more holistic self-expression via the simple act of not manipulating human behavior through an algorithmic incentives. Here, less truly is more.

You’ve probably seen GreenpeaceUSA's Bitcoin report by now, and my response (if you haven't been blocked). Here’s six things that every environmentalist, Bitcoin advocate, regulator, policymaker and media representative should know about GreenpeaceUSA. I've had this information for over a year, but have held back on going public with it until now because there were initially signs that GreenpeaceUSA would be open to engaging with environmentalists within the Bitcoin community. With them now blocking me from commenting on their tweets, all hope of that has now ended. So here's what I can tell you about GreenpeaceUSA, and their campaign that have not been aired publicly until now, and which may surprise you. Firstly, some context: I’m a former volunteer environmental campaigner with Greenpeace. I once risked arrest to stand up for causes I believed in, including an anti-GMO campaign against McDonalds which was successful within 6 weeks, and hailed as an example of how creative direct action can yield fast results. One of the differences: we talked to McDonalds (something no one at GreenpeaceUSA is currently doing with the Bitcoin community). I know a number of people in the environmental movement, and I would like to thank them for their honesty in whistleblowing on a thoroughly misguided campaign from GreenpeaceUSA from start to finish. 1. GreenpeaceUSA’s campaign does NOT have the backing of Greenpeace International. In fact, other branches have asked questions of GreenpeaceUSA’s tactics, and even said that their campaign is damaging the Greenpeace brand, and has resulted in the loss of subscriptions. 2. Within GreenpeaceUSA, there are a growing number of voices of discontent. There is a growing division between some of the younger crypto-neutral or crypto-friendly millennial in their base, and the directorship of GreenpeaceUSA 3. As we know, GreenpeaceUSA did receive a $5Million donation from Ripple’s chair Chris Larsen to run an anti-Bitcoin campaign. What you probably do not know is that within Greenpeace, several staff have questioned whether this is ethical, or in the spirit of an organization that says it relies only on grassroots funding in its sign-up pledge. 4. Some members of EWG and SierraClub, particularly younger members, were not enamoured with their organization’s collusion with GreenpeaceUSA’s “Change the Code” campaign. EWG has not engaged in anti-Bitcoin rhetoric since 6 April ‘23. 5. The head of GreenpeaceUSA’s “Change the Code” campaign has stepped down and is no longer any part of GreenpeaceUSA. At the time of his stepping down he was reported by a source within GreenpeaceUSA to be questioning the wisdom of the campaign. 6. Within GreenpeaceUSA, we know from multiple inside sources that the Change the Code campaign has been widely acknowledged to have been “not particularly successful”. GreenpeaceUSA’s campaign got off on the wrong foot right from the start, by antagonising environmentalists within the Bitcoin community, such as me. Here’s its half-time report (TL;DR, the worst performing environmental campaign I’ve ever witnessed). https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/greenpeace-environment-attacks-help-bitcoin… Now, the campaign is in more disarray than ever, resorting to tenuous ad hominem attacks against Satoshi Action, based on the discover that one of their supporters is a climate denier. True. Well, guess what: one of their supporters is also a plant-based, tree-hugging, climate-activist & meditation teacher: me. That’s the beauty of Bitcoin: it pulls people in from across the political spectrum: we are as diverse as society itself, and that’s what makes us strong. As I wrote recently, “when the ship you’re standing on is sinking: it doesn’t matter if you’re on the left of right side of it.” I hoped GreenpeaceUSA would end their anti-Bitcoin campaign before their credibility and relevance to the new generation of millennials they are currently disenfranchising is completely severed. But it seems at the moment they are more intent on doubling down on misinformation. Their leadership must change for them to ever have hope of becoming a true voice for the environment again.