Technology

‘Bitcoin in its purest form is a form of monetary peaceful protest’: CoinShares CSO to WEF cryptocurrency panel

CoinShares Chief Strategy Officer Meltem Demirors tells a WEF cryptocurrency panel that Bitcoin is a form of monetary peaceful protest and that financial freedom is a critical tool to enable dissent in democratic societies.

Last week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) held its virtual four-day Sustainable Development Impact Summit to run alongside the United Nations General Assembly.

Meltem Demirors

“Anytime you have a centralized financial application, what you have is the ability to censor” — Meltem Demirors

Speaking on Thursday’s panel entitled “Towards Sustainable Cryptocurrencies,” the CoinShares CSO said that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were important tools for preserving freedom and human dignity.

Highlighting that “totalitarian governments are on the rise around the world,” Demirors explained that crypto was a way for people to circumvent censorship while giving citizens the option “to participate in an alternative economic system that has different rules than the one issued by their government.”

“Financial freedom, financial privacy is a critical tool to enable dissent in democratic societies, and so it’s very important that there are options where users cannot be censored” — Meltem Demirors

“[Bitcoin] is being used by political activists and dissidents in economies in totalitarian governments, which by the way, totalitarian governments are on the rise around the world” — Meltem Demirors

“Anytime you have a centralized financial application, what you have is the ability to censor,” Demirors told the WEF panel.

“There’s a great study that’s been done by the Human Rights Foundation about Bitcoin is freedom money.

“It’s being used by political activists and dissidents in economies in totalitarian governments, which by the way, totalitarian governments are on the rise around the world.

“Financial freedom, financial privacy is a critical tool to enable dissent in democratic societies, and so it’s very important that there are options where users cannot be censored.

“It’s very important for a healthy, free democratic society that people have the ability to transact financially with freedom” — Meltem Demirors

“If we look at what’s happening in China, for example, dissidents in China are being silenced. They’re being banned from using social media. They’re being banned from traveling. They’re being banned from using the financial system.

“We could very well see the situation here in the United States. The Biden administration has expressed its intent to censor people who do not agree with their consensus definition of certain things in society.

“So, it’s very important for a healthy, free democratic society that people have the ability to transact financially with freedom,” she added.

“Governments are increasingly pushing for control, for censorship, for the ability to dictate who can do or say what, based on whether or not their views support those of the government that’s in power” — Meltem Demirors

According to the CoinShares CSO, crypto is all about allowing people to choose which currency they hold and that having that choice accelerates “human freedom, democracy, and open societies.”

“At the end of the day, this [crypto] is really about choice,” said Demirors.

“Choice is an incredibly powerful thing, and we’re not sitting here demanding everyone in the world use cryptocurrencies, but for the first time so many people around the world have a choice.

“People who’ve never had a choice as to what currency they hold now have the ability — the choice — to participate in an alternative economic system that has different rules than the one issued by their government.”

“I’m just very excited about cryptocurrencies as a tool — and just one tool among many — to help continue to preserve human dignity and human freedom” — Meltem Demirors

She added, “The arc of progress is bending right now towards centralization and control, and we see this with COVID.

“Governments are increasingly pushing for control, for censorship, for the ability to dictate who can do or say what, based on whether or not their views support those of the government that’s in power.

“And again, throughout human history, the ability to have freedom — to have choice — has been a really big accelerator for human freedom, democracy, and open societies.”

“We can choose for the first time to exit the petrodollar system, which has caused so much economic damage, so much social damage, and frankly, more environmental degradation and damage than any other technology” — Meltem Demirors

“I believe what we’re working on is just so foundational and so important to preserving the values that so many of us in the West have around the right to freedom, the right to self-expression, and the ability to dissent and to have peaceful protests.

“And Bitcoin in its purest form is a form of monetary peaceful protest.

“We can choose for the first time to exit the petrodollar system, which has caused so much economic damage, so much social damage, and frankly, more environmental degradation and damage than any other technology.

“The war machine is the most polluting, most damaging thing on our planet.

“And so again, I’m just very excited about cryptocurrencies as a tool — and just one tool among many — to help continue to preserve human dignity and human freedom.”

“Bitcoin is already one of the most sustainable industries in the world” — Meltem Demirors

“The Bitcoin industry has never received a single dollar of government subsidies or government funding and has single-handedly put more renewable energy on the grid and made it economically viable to invest in, develop, and build out renewable energy power generation” — Meltem Demirors

Demirors explained how Bitcoin had become one of the most sustainable industries in the world in that its power mix was over 50 percent renewables without ever taking any government subsidies.

“Bitcoin is already one of the most sustainable industries in the world,” Demirors told the WEF panel.

“The US power mix today is only 20 percent renewables. The Bitcoin industry’s power mix today is 50 percent renewables in the United States of America, as published in Q2 by the North American Bitcoin Mining Council, and was over 70 percent globally.”

“The private sector, in this instance the Bitcoin sector, can do a lot to solve the problems that the public sector has been unable and unwilling to solve without impacting taxpayers and burdening them with even more debt” — Meltem Demirors

The CoinShares CSO went on to say, “Really, the conversation we’re having is a subjective conversation about uses of energy, but the bigger question is sources of energy.

“Today, the US government subsidizes the fossil fuel industry, which is a multi-trillion dollar, very mature industry, to the tune of $20 billion per year.

“The European Union subsidizes the oil and gas industry to the tune of $30 billion per year.

“The Bitcoin industry has never received a single dollar of government subsidies or government funding and has single-handedly put more renewable energy on the grid and made it economically viable to invest in, develop, and build out renewable energy power generation.

“And to me that is really the profound opportunity here. The private sector, in this instance, the Bitcoin sector can do a lot to solve the problems that the public sector has been unable and unwilling to solve without impacting taxpayers and burdening them with even more debt,”  she added.

Tim Hinchliffe

The Sociable editor Tim Hinchliffe covers tech and society, with perspectives on public and private policies proposed by governments, unelected globalists, think tanks, big tech companies, defense departments, and intelligence agencies. Previously, Tim was a reporter for the Ghanaian Chronicle in West Africa and an editor at Colombia Reports in South America. These days, he is only responsible for articles he writes and publishes in his own name. tim@sociable.co

View Comments

  • (A monospace Consolas Font [at 8-point BOLD] was used in preparing the ensuing message [at a max screen width of 166 characters]. Please print in, "legal landscape"!)
    .
    Greetings!... an urgent note regarding Christine Lagarde's, Turkey's and China's recent rejection of Bitcoin!... and if you want to put a big dent in cryptocurrency's sordid criminal presence online, I would suggest challenging Elon Musk-- specifically!-- in the manner hereinafter outlined!...
    .
    bit(.)ly/3h17CBn
    .
    bit(.)ly/2PhTloD
    .
    bit(.)ly/2PgpEnJ
    .
    bit(.)ly/31rXYyN (Under "Economic Forecast" > "Global economy", see, "2018"... see, "Political Views")
    .
    bit(.)ly/2PxJbjs
    .
    Simply put... if "cryptocurrencies" have been used-- and are being used!-- to "launder" criminal transactions (shielded by the constant hype that these currencies are all about... and nothing more than about!... "safe monetary encryption"!), then we run the risk of empowering some of the most ruthless individuals on our planet, and covering up some of the most brutal crimes committed for profit (e.g., the love of for-profit broadcast child sex murder... i.e., "Kerdotelepaederotophoneuophilia"!)! And, if you are inclined to view our world as inherently good... and because, you and your's have lived hermetically sealed lives for most of your lives!... then your myopic complacency could place your world at the mercy of SOULLESS DESPOTS-- let alone, ENDANGER YOUR'S!
    .
    Encypting digital transactions is one thing... but, allowing a human-sized spider to snuggle up to you under the sheets in an "unlit digital room", is to be suddenly, and mercilessly stung, and then devoured as prey! But, worse!... is awakening to a hell more horrific than your fatal sting and mere death!... YOUR PUNISHMENT BY GOD!
    .
    Herewith, is a politely conscripted JOURNALISTIC CHALLENGE to explore the REAL DANGERS behind the digital laundering of digital currency transactions used in exchange for products and/ or services!... and beyond the hereinafter outlined quaint exploration of the said SCIENCE BEHIND DIGITAL ENCRYPTION AND THE IMPACT OF CRYPTOMINING! Indeed, EVEN IF cryptocurrencies are 100% "encryption spyproof" and environmentally sustainable, such does not take away the THREAT presented by way of those for whom such encryption is but a means to operate criminally!... WITH DIGITAL IMPUNITY!
    .
    bbc(.)in/2PiIXga
    .
    Ummmm!... I wonder what Elon Musk PUBLICLY THINKS... hint, hint!... about the subject of Kerdotelepaedertophoneuophilia!... or just plain Telepaedertophoneuophilia or Paedertophoneuophilia! After all, he has PUBLICLY EXPRESSED his disdain for, "pedos"... and, we may conclude from that that he's a critic of Child Sex Trafficking and Human Trafficking, in general!
    .
    You know, people... in the light of the abovestated court-sanctioned excusing of his PUBLIC ACCUSATION of a would-be rescuer as a pedophile, and his recent receipt of a first place monetary accolade... AND of his public announcement of his support for Bitcoin... this is the perfect occasion to secure "good guy support" for a battle against what may be-- arguably!-- THE MOST HORRENDOUS CRIME COMMITTED BY ANY HUMAN BEING (AND ECLIPSING, JIHADISTS, WHITE SUPREMISTS AND MERE MURDERERS-- GENERALLY!)!
    .
    What do you BOLDLY SAY, people?... should someone BOLDLY ASK this "man of monetary notoriety" (academ[icly]!... and, impassionately/ matter-of-factly!) what he thinks of these evils-- and yea, what his "scientific solutions" are to ending this global scourge? And then, once having received his caring response (if, you do!), ask him about the problem of LAUNDERING COMMERCIAL CHILD SEX TRANSACTIONS BY WAY OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES!... and, whether his support for Bitcoin, is in CONTRAST to his assertion that a would-be rescuer of children was a pedophile, while-- all the while-- he (Elon Musk) has recently "granted" SUPPORT FOR ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE TOOLS FOR LAUNDERING COMMERCIAL CHILD SEX TRANSACTIONS!
    .
    To sum... it's bad enough to find that due to the power of this encryption method to keep criminals safe from exposing their sale of illicit products and/ or services to criminal buyers of such illicit products and/ or services (by invoking "cryptocircumlocutory obfuscation"/ "slight-of-hand" in the exhange of an illicit sale of an illicit product and/ or service for a "cryptoverivala" that/ which could-- in turn-- be exchanged for "sanctionable tangible assets (i.e., 'laundered assets'!)"... we now have the compounded damnable evil of energy-consuming Net thieves attempting to steal "Cryptoverivala Seals" in order to generate their own "Crypto La Cosa Nostra Effect", that-- in turn-- could be used to secure sanctionable tangible assets! And frankly, the recent Reports of the further problem of an enormous carbon footprint being left behind by wannabe and would-be "crypto thieves" of "crypto enablers" of "cryptosociopsychopaths", is but incidental to the main concern!... and that being, the demonic footprint being left behind on the souls of the most vulnerable!... the "particulates" of which, are far more disabling than mere cancer-causing molecules (see, Mark 7: 15 and Matthew 15: 11, Biblehub)!
    .
    All the best!... stay safe!... and no emails required!
    .
    P.S.:...
    .
    BTW!... Kerdotelepaedertophoneuophilia isn't the only crime that criminals realize is in need of cryptocurrency laundering... and Elon Musk isn't the only high roller who's expressed his support for this more than dubious, "innovation"! (See, bit[.]ly/3cx0XMK... and, bit[.]ly/3fo5fYS)
    .
    bit(.)ly/31s6zSa
    .
    bit(.)ly/3w6TlZ0
    .
    bit(.)ly/3m4dr1t
    .
    bit(.)ly/3m7ZoYY
    .
    bit(.)ly/3dcTvpa

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