Oddbean new post about login | logout Excuse me, exactly how did you become an expert on Norwegian bitcoiners? And how did you learn about the lacking will from us to defend ourselves? I will politely ask you to GFY and stick to your own freedom fight. There is an active group of Norwegian bitcoiners, many of us met first at OFF 2022 (when I also think I met you in person). We are not many, somewhere between 50-100 persons. There are active writers among this group, who have been published in national media several times. I know that this case have been discussed amongst this group. Unfortunately not many Norwegians are active on Nostr, and I don’t follow the debate on X anymore. The total number of active nostr users are are probably less than 20 persons. Most Norwegian bitcoin holders are unfortunately not interested in the political and philosophical side of BTC, they’re only in it for NGU. The same seems to be the case with many large bitcoin miners. They seldom attend meetups and have not been very visible in the community in general. In my opinion this political case should be fought by the bitcoin industry themselves. They need to step up and take responsibility. We others will continue doing what we do, building knowledge and our community, writing to media and talking all sorts of people (including politicians). I myself will continue to spread the Satoshi gospel with the work I do with different podcasts and audio books. And I will ensure that Norwegian hashrate doesn’t drop to zero with my mountain cabin miner. #norgstr
I don’t need to be expert on Norwegian bitcoiners. PoW is very efficient mechanism - you can just see that there is no defence for bitcoin, it is just a fact. Your message, if I put it more politely, is “leave me alone and let it be as it is” doesn’t address my points, just exposing even more your ignorance. I don’t ask anyone to attend meetups, or doing abstract things in a social media. It will not help. Instead, as an expert on introducing reforms in different jurisdictions, Im raising awareness that: 🔹There is a clear need to provide with a well grounded expertise policymakers, journalists and communities. 🔹There is a clear necessity to ask policymakers to conduct public consultation before introducing the draft of the restrictive regulation. It is not about your books or podcast or even your mountain cabin mining. #FreedomTech should not be in a grey zone just because of someone’s arrogance - and I don’t care if it is arrogance of bitcoiners, who don’t care or prefer to move to other jurisdictions, or regulators who are dare to conduct public consultations and learn about #bitcoin. I hope it’s more clear now.
Well, I’m pretty sure we agree on the important mechanism of PoW. And I agree that the policymakers should have consulted the industry before they wrote this proposal. I have no direct insight in how this process was conducted, but I do know that it’s common practice when Norwegian politicians have these types of committees that they have an expert panel where the public is represented. As far as I understand, bitcoin / crypto mining was a minor subject in a larger discussion, and that’s probably the reason why the industry wasn’t included. But again, I don’t have the insights here (and I don’t pretend that I do so). If the government decides to propose such a law, they will have to send the proposal out to a hearing before they vote on it our parliament. So, again, the public be given a chance to speak up. My first impression when I read your post was that it was inaccurate and a bit speculative with your WORDING IN THE HEADLINE. FUD is not the way. In your reply to my comment, you wrote “there is almost no will from Norwegian bitcoiners to defend themselves”. This is not only incorrect, but also quite offensive to the people who are trying to build a community and expand the knowledge about bitcoin in Norway. You might be an expert in your field, but I still find your post and answer arrogant and partially incorrect. If this is how you conduct your work elsewhere, I don’t think you will succeed with this tactic here. In that case, I would prefer that you leave your concerns with “the unwilling Norwegian bitcoiners”. Glad you enjoyed the beautiful mountains of Lofoten when you were here.
I don’t mind disturbing people from their zone of comfort to defend human rights and #freedomtech #bitcoin, even if they think it is offensive to them, because I brought this discussion to public. Im not publishing my communication with Norwegian authorities because you as citizen can send just the same email as I did and get the same evidence, with no need to guess or speculate. I fight with real dictatorships, who tried to sue me for every my report and publication in the social media. So I know the price of the word I publish.