Meltem Demirors and Andy Bromberg spoke at a Unitized panel on the coming development of Bitcoin and how geopolitics is starting to arrive in the ecosystem.
In little more than 10 years, Bitcoin (BTC) thrived from a minor cypherpunk neighbourhood to a course of national safety with vast importance for geopolitics.
About mining
Demirors noted that a profound modification in global energy dynamics started up to occur in recent years. She interpreted it as an arising narrative that concentrates on the importance of “computing and connectivity in the context of cybersecurity and national defence.”
She pertained to landmarks of this phenomenon, like Amazon Web Services becoming the biggest protection contractor, or how Huawei was accused of allegedly imperilling U.S. national security. Meltem thinks that this was politically motivated, as the U.S. “has voiced its concerns about letting foreign governments participate in the build-out of infrastructure in this country.”
“So I think five years from now, it would be very likely that 40% of Bitcoin mining, if not more, is on onshore in the United States. It’s very likely that governments will view big cryptocurrency networks as part of a national security strategy.”
“I think right now what you’re seeing is people are co-opting the idea and trying to implement it in different ways. Central bank digital currencies have absolutely nothing to do with Bitcoin. They’re antithetical.”
“I think that different needs require different tools. At the end of the day, Bitcoin and all of these other cryptocurrencies, digital fiat and these other projects, they’re just tools that we’re trying to use to solve our problems.”
In her view, the problem that Bitcoin solves is that of “monetary system choice.” People who may be dissatisfied with the way the system works have few options to fight back, and while dollar-based coins may solve some problems, they don’t solve issues of “financial censorship, financial control and a fundamental lack of privacy.”
Thus, paradoxically, Bitcoin can be seen as both a matter of national security and a way of escaping it.
