Bitcoin Magazine Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain’s Dominance Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. recently announced the Proto Rig, a modular reinvention of Bitcoin mining hardware not seen since Bitmain’s launch of the S1 ASIC rig in 2013, over 12 years ago. The announcement was made from the facilities of Core Scientific with whom Block has partnered to design, test and develop the Proto line of mining hardware. Dorsey personally attended the event, among a who’s who of the Bitcoin mining industry. Spotted: The boss @jack getting a closer look at Proto Rig. pic.twitter.com/196Sk9KOzn — Proto (@protomining) August 14, 2025 The Proto Rig has the potential to disrupt and challenge Bitmain’s effective monopoly over mining hardware manufacturing, with approximately over 80% of the market, a position it has enjoyed for most of Bitcoin’s history. But the main innovation does not come from more powerful or energy-efficient chips — not yet anyway — rather from making everything else around the chip drastically better, designed to lower repair frequency and maintenance costs. Its modular design supports seamless upgrades and part replacements that can be swapped in seconds. In an interview with The Mining Pod, Perry Hothi, blockchain solutions architect at Block, focused on the mining division since 2022 said the device was more than just competitive with the Bitmain line of mining rigs; “When people hear competitive, they automatically think efficient, right? I always say it’s profitable… If it’s not running, efficiency doesn’t matter.” It changes the focus of the conversation in mining from the specs of ASIC chips toward the amateur design of mining rigs as a whole, which have not yet caught up with best practices developed by the data center industry in its many decades of experience. “When you look at the data center world, they’ve been doing it for 10 times as long [as Bitcoin miners]. There’s a lot of innovations they made that work for us,” Hothi said, implying the Proto Rig was designed to learn from the scaled-up data center industry. Erik Cativo, a Bitcoin product developer and HRF grantee echoed this sentiment on X saying the “Proto Rig looks clean. Reminds me of beautifully designed Swedish telecom hardware.” Proto Rig looks clean. Reminds me of beautifully designed Swedish telecom hardware. pic.twitter.com/4F3fLSPw6Q — Erik (@uxerik_) August 14, 2025 In the interview, Hothi also discussed the vision and complexities of manufacturing the Proto Rig in the United States, expressing the benefits of manufacturing pieces at home, which can improve reliability of supply chains and is also now strongly incentivized by President Trump’s new tariff regime. On the topic Hothi said, “there are certain components that can be built faster in China and brought over, others are better built in America now… Like there’s a not too distant future where every component in [the Proto Rig] will be built right here [in the United States].” He added that today, “the [ASIC] chips are going to be in Taiwan, but even those eventually, we’re looking to make those here.” Regarding the ASIC chip of the Proto Rig, Max Guise Product & ASIC Lead at Proto told Bitcoin Magazine “Our system is vertically integrated end-to-end, including our own chip. At a system level, we can offer different configurations that bring different efficiency depending on the mining operator needs, and our configurations go as low as 14.1 joules per hash efficiency rating.” keeping details about the chip close to the chest and emphasizing the Proto Rig’s customizability and modularity. Modularity In order to provide more reliable hashrate to miners, the Proto Rig is designed in modular pieces starting with the chassis, which measures 39cm by 29cm by 50cm and can host nine boards’ worth of chips, six fans and three modular power units. The Proto Rig can be liquid cooled as well, while the modular fans suggest the hardware is meant to be modded or extended to serve different use cases and approaches, perhaps enterprise miners or the booming home mining industry. The Proto Rig is highly customizable allowing miners to choose exactly how many chips to run, while also having clear hardware and software error signals in case a fan breaks or a power supply is overheating. The Proto Rig manages to squeeze the equivalent of three mining units in the space of two traditional models while being competitive to top-of-the-line industrial miners like the Bitmain Antminer S21 XP or the MicroBT Whatsminer M66S, both running on about 14 joules per terahash. Yet the Proto Rig delivers up to 810 TH per unit in the same space as the competitors, taking into account the real estate costs of industrial mining, which for years have filled out warehouses of units side by side. 14.1 J/TH !! https://t.co/bZtUkwAkEj — jack (@jack) August 14, 2025 The Proto Rig might not just be built for the big miners. There were multiple hints in the event and following commentary that suggest home miners will get some love as well from the Proto hardware team. Jack Dorsey himself tweeted out “A commitment to ALL the players in the mining industry, not just the big guys.” He retweeted a bitcoiner who attended the event and shared his excitement with some photographs. The mysterious tweet has not been followed up with any details but there are rumours that there might be a Bitaxe-style collaboration with Proto which would look to serve the home mining market. When asked about home mining Max Guise told Bitcoin Magazine “Proto is designing products for mining operators of all sizes. Our first product, Rig, is a 12 kilowatt system, which is a higher power requirement than most home miners can handle, so it is best suited for operators who have more infrastructure involved in their operations. That doesn’t rule out the possibility of future products that could be more retail-friendly, but right now it’s not our focus.” StratumV2 On By Default: Huge For Miner Decentralization Brian Stegall, head of design at Proto, announced at the launch event that the “Proto Rigs will support Stratum V2 out of the box,” adding that, “It’s a more efficient protocol that offers native hashrate auditing, which helps detect and reduce issues like miner misconfiguration, unwanted divergence and other fleet-wide issues.” Stratumv2 is a mining pool update to the popular Stratum V1 protocol which dominates adoption among miners, in part because it was one of the first software tools developed to pull hashrate from miners throughout the world, allowing them to act as one miner and share rewards. The old protocol, while well understood by miners has a serious downside, it centralizes the construction of blocks to the mining pool operator, an issue that was recently revealed to be worse than expected, as most mining pools appear to be copying block templates produced by Antpool. The risk threatens a deep layer of the Bitcoin network, potentially exposing transactions to censorship, if this trend is not reversed. StratumV2 was designed to put block template production in the hands of hashrate providers, pushing the process to the edges and thus increasing the diversity of blocks and transactions included, ultimately safeguarding Bitcoin’s censorship-resistance properties. But mining pools have been slow to adopt the protocol, likely because of the software development lift. With the Proto Rig building it into the software stack of the machine, we should expect a much higher rate of adoption as the Block’s mining rigs get rolled out into production. This is a development that the greater Bitcoin community has been working toward for many years. Open Sourcing The Software Going beyond just reinventing mining hardware, Proto has also announced the open source release of its mining management software, Fleet. Brian Stegall broke the news by sharing their experience researching the state of software in the Bitcoin mining industry as, “We chatted with a ton of different people in varying sizes of operations, and we listened to all the complaints… We broke that down into three areas… One, that there’s too many tools. Two, making it simple is important. And automation and AI is the third one.” Fleet consolidates a patchwork of tools used by miners to boot and track their machines as well as identify hardware or software failures. Laughing in playful disbelief Stegall said that “We went to a lot of facilities and there’s a lot of places where they’ll scan the network with BTC.com tools, still. Yeah. Right. And then will flip it into a spreadsheet and upload it.” As an example of how badly a modern software suite is needed, he described some arcane process of big mining. Stegall also made the case that having a better-designed and robust software tool to manage the hardware would help train employees more effectively and let them focus on more important issues rather than struggle with bad user interfaces. On the topic of security Stegall said that the “Proto Fleet comes out of the box with secure boot technology to guarantee that the firmware you’re running comes from Proto. This is an extra measure that prevents supply chain attacks, malware attacks, and theft of Bitcoin rewards.” He added that, “It will also allow you to disable secure boot technology easily if you want to do something of your own.” Finally, the topic of AI was teased out as a modern approach to user experience, though the hints made were somewhat vague: “We wanted to make clean and clear dashboards… If fan3 is broken, we tell you fan3 is broken… We’re providing robust repair guides right in proto-fleet… We want to introduce a modern AI-powered interface… Automated alerts so that you don’t even have to ask the chat interface.” While details on the depth of AI integration into Fleet are still scarce, what Stegall shared does reveal a vision of high-tech modern software helping increase the efficiency of Bitcoin miners as a whole. The software is expected to be open sourced in the near future, though no software has been released to the public yet. Pricing and Delivery Overall, while we have learned much about Block and Proto’s plans to serve and upgrade the Bitcoin mining industry, no details have been shared about the price of the Proto Rigs, on the topic Max Guise told Bitcoin Magazine that “We want to hear from everyone interested in Proto Rig. There are many ways to configure the rig, and pricing and configuration options are handled directly by our Sales team.” The rigs are starting to hit the market, apparently not just to Core Scientific who has a close partnership with Proto, Max Guise told Bitcoin Magazine that the “Proto Rigs are shipping to customers now. As far as availability, we recommend customers to check with our Sales team on exact availability depending on configuration and volume”. All and all, the Proto Rig reveal left a strong impression in the mining industry and greater Bitcoin community: It demonstrated a mastery in industrial design and showed off what top Western talent can bring to a hardware industry that for most of Bitcoin’s history has been dominated by the East. This post Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain’s Dominance first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

[Bitcoin Magazine](https://bitcoinmagazine.com)
![](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/proto-rig.webp)
[Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain’s Dominance](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/bitcoin-mining/block-inc-launches-proto-rig-modular-bitcoin-miner-challenging-bitmains-dominance)

[Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/jack-dorseys-block-inc-is-reinventing-finance-bitcoin). recently [announced the Proto Rig](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/block-launches-modular-bitcoin-miner-and-free-open-source-mining-software), a modular reinvention of Bitcoin mining hardware not seen since Bitmain’s launch of the [S1 ASIC rig in 2013](https://blog.bitmain.com/en/the-story-behind-the-asic-evolution/), over 12 years ago. The announcement was made from the facilities of Core Scientific with whom Block has partnered to design, test and develop the Proto line of mining hardware. Dorsey personally attended the event, among a who’s who of the Bitcoin mining industry.

> ![🔧](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/16.0.1/72x72/1f527.png) Spotted: The boss [@jack](https://twitter.com/jack?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) getting a closer look at Proto Rig. [pic.twitter.com/196Sk9KOzn](https://t.co/196Sk9KOzn)
>
> — Proto (@protomining) [August 14, 2025](https://twitter.com/protomining/status/1956063239399145910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

The Proto Rig has the potential to disrupt and challenge Bitmain’s effective monopoly over mining hardware manufacturing, with approximately over 80% of the market, a position it has enjoyed for most of Bitcoin’s history. But the main innovation does not come from more powerful or energy-efficient chips — not yet anyway — rather from making everything else around the chip drastically better, designed to lower repair frequency and maintenance costs. Its modular design supports seamless upgrades and part replacements that can be swapped in seconds.

In an interview with The Mining Pod, Perry Hothi, blockchain solutions architect at Block, focused on the mining division since 2022 said the device was more than just competitive with the Bitmain line of mining rigs; “When people hear competitive, they automatically think efficient, right? I always say it’s profitable… If it’s not running, efficiency doesn’t matter.” It changes the focus of the conversation in mining from the specs of ASIC chips toward the amateur design of mining rigs as a whole, which have not yet caught up with best practices developed by the data center industry in its many decades of experience. “When you look at the data center world, they’ve been doing it for 10 times as long \[as Bitcoin miners\]. There’s a lot of innovations they made that work for us,” Hothi said, implying the Proto Rig was designed to learn from the scaled-up data center industry.

Erik Cativo, a Bitcoin product developer and HRF grantee [echoed this sentiment on X](https://x.com/uxerik_/status/1956003830744613372) saying the “Proto Rig looks clean. Reminds me of beautifully designed Swedish telecom hardware.”

> Proto Rig looks clean. Reminds me of beautifully designed Swedish telecom hardware. [pic.twitter.com/4F3fLSPw6Q](https://t.co/4F3fLSPw6Q)
>
> — Erik (@uxerik\_) [August 14, 2025](https://twitter.com/uxerik_/status/1956003830744613372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

In the interview, Hothi also discussed the vision and complexities of manufacturing the Proto Rig in the United States, expressing the benefits of manufacturing pieces at home, which can improve reliability of supply chains and is also now strongly incentivized by President Trump’s new tariff regime. On the topic Hothi said, “there are certain components that can be built faster in China and brought over, others are better built in America now… Like there’s a not too distant future where every component in \[the Proto Rig\] will be built right here \[in the United States\].” He added that today, “the \[ASIC\] chips are going to be in Taiwan, but even those eventually, we’re looking to make those here.”

Regarding the ASIC chip of the Proto Rig, Max Guise Product & ASIC Lead at Proto told Bitcoin Magazine “Our system is vertically integrated end-to-end, including our own chip. At a system level, we can offer different configurations that bring different efficiency depending on the mining operator needs, and our configurations go as low as 14.1 joules per hash efficiency rating.” keeping details about the chip close to the chest and emphasizing the Proto Rig’s customizability and modularity.

### Modularity

In order to provide more reliable hashrate to miners, the Proto Rig is designed in modular pieces starting with the chassis, which measures 39cm by 29cm by 50cm and can host nine boards’ worth of chips, six fans and three modular power units. The Proto Rig can be liquid cooled as well, while the modular fans suggest the hardware is meant to be modded or extended to serve different use cases and approaches, perhaps enterprise miners or the booming [home mining industry](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/make-bitcoin-mining-decentralized-again). The Proto Rig is highly customizable allowing miners to choose exactly how many chips to run, while also having clear hardware and software error signals in case a fan breaks or a power supply is overheating.

![Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain's Dominance](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/modular.png "Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain's Dominance 7")

![Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain's Dominance](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/specs1.png "Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain's Dominance 8")

![Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain's Dominance](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/specs2.png "Block Inc. Launches Proto Rig: Modular Bitcoin Miner Challenging Bitmain's Dominance 9")

The Proto Rig manages to squeeze the equivalent of three mining units in the space of two traditional models while being competitive to top-of-the-line industrial miners like the Bitmain Antminer S21 XP or the MicroBT Whatsminer M66S, both running on about 14 joules per terahash. Yet the Proto Rig delivers up to 810 TH per unit in the same space as the competitors, taking into account the real estate costs of industrial mining, which for years have filled out warehouses of units side by side.

> 14.1 J/TH !! [https://t.co/bZtUkwAkEj](https://t.co/bZtUkwAkEj)
>
> — jack (@jack) [August 14, 2025](https://twitter.com/jack/status/1956006538042093993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

The Proto Rig might not just be built for the big miners. There were multiple hints in the event and following commentary that suggest home miners will get some love as well from the Proto hardware team. Jack Dorsey himself tweeted out “A commitment to ALL the players in the mining industry, not just the big guys.” He retweeted a bitcoiner who attended the event and shared his excitement with some photographs.

The mysterious tweet has not been followed up with any details but there are rumours that there might be a [Bitaxe](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitaxe-and-the-open-source-bitcoin-mining-movement)\-style collaboration with Proto which would look to serve the home mining market.

When asked about home mining Max Guise told Bitcoin Magazine “Proto is designing products for mining operators of all sizes. Our first product, Rig, is a 12 kilowatt system, which is a higher power requirement than most home miners can handle, so it is best suited for operators who have more infrastructure involved in their operations. That doesn’t rule out the possibility of future products that could be more retail-friendly, but right now it’s not our focus.”

### StratumV2 On By Default: Huge For Miner Decentralization

[Brian Stegall](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-stegall/), head of design at Proto, announced at the launch event that the “Proto Rigs will support Stratum V2 out of the box,” adding that, “It’s a more efficient protocol that offers native hashrate auditing, which helps detect and reduce issues like miner misconfiguration, unwanted divergence and other fleet-wide issues.”

[Stratumv2](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/stratum-v2-will-save-bitcoin-mining) is a mining pool update to the popular Stratum V1 protocol which dominates adoption among miners, in part because it was one of the first software tools developed to pull hashrate from miners throughout the world, allowing them to act as one miner and share rewards. The old protocol, while well understood by miners has a serious downside, it centralizes the construction of blocks to the mining pool operator, an issue that was recently revealed to be worse than expected, as most mining pools appear to be [copying block templates produced by Antpool](https://b10c.me/observations/12-template-similarity/). The risk threatens a deep layer of the Bitcoin network, potentially exposing transactions to censorship, if this trend is not reversed.

StratumV2 was designed to put block template production in the hands of hashrate providers, pushing the process to the edges and thus increasing the diversity of blocks and transactions included, ultimately safeguarding Bitcoin’s censorship-resistance properties.

But mining pools have been slow to adopt the protocol, likely because of the software development lift. With the Proto Rig building it into the software stack of the machine, we should expect a much higher rate of adoption as the Block’s mining rigs get rolled out into production. This is a development that the greater Bitcoin community has been working toward for many years.

### Open Sourcing The Software

Going beyond just reinventing mining hardware, Proto has also announced the open source release of its mining management


Bitcoin Magazine An Excerpt From Bitcoin Circular Economies: The Beginning When people picture a tropical beach with volcanic sands, warm waters and dreamy surfing waves, they are describing El Zonte, in El Salvador. It’s hard to think that this natural paradise was once the battleground of Latin America’s most savage and violent gangs for decades. According to a UNICEF report, the homicide rate in 2015 was 103 per 100,000 inhabitants. The result was thousands of children orphaned and vulnerable to be recruited by the drug cartels, where the only option for a better life seemed to be to migrate to the United States. Chimbera was born in the community of El Zonte, where opportunities were divided by a road which separated the beach from the mountains. “In the past if you were born on the beach, you were a fisherman, like my father and grandfather. If you were born in the mountains, you were a farmer; while women were mainly housewives. The only hope for a better future for young people was to emigrate to the United States or Canada. We learned with sadness that the opportunities were there, the land of freedom where dreams supposedly came true. Paradoxically, these words come from a smiling face. It is very easy to fall in love with Román Martínez’s smile; known as “Chimbera” to his closest friends and family. His contagious joy comes from someone who knows in depth the darkest sides a society can fall into. His smile tells a story of collective overcoming, where a group of people believed that a better future was possible and, without expectations but with tireless determination, transformed a fishing village in one of the poorest and most violent countries in the world into a hub of technological innovation and human development. Something unusual in modern history. Chimbera looks to the sky before continuing to reflect on dreams. “We believe in God and in the law of attraction of different things, but it is fundamental to believe in something that moves you to commit and work every day for that dream. In the beginning, the dream was to help kids have more opportunities in the community, keep them out of delinquency and get them to start dreaming.” The problem, Román highlights, is that many times they tell you “fight for your dreams” but they don’t give you the tools or the knowledge to be able to achieve them. “That’s how our dream began: Jorge meeting with the children on the street, supporting them and inspiring them to dream of a better future. It’s hard not to get emotional with Jorge Valenzuela as he tearfully explains why they decided to create Hope House. “We sought to give these children the opportunities that our friends didn’t have and the reason why many of them are no longer here with us.” Like most of the residents of El Zonte, he too has a story to tell. Some twenty years ago, Jorge made his living from farming. He had a heart for surfing and the waves, but the sad reality around him forced him to keep his feet on the ground. At that time, the job market only offered two options: to become a gang member or to be hired as private security on a property. The sad and violent reality of those years presented a dead end. “There was a lack of employment, educational and personal development opportunities in general. Faced with this, many sought to emigrate and look for them elsewhere,” Jorge explains clearly. During those years, in the mornings, when the sun began to peek over the mountains, Jorge knew what he wanted to do. He would take his board and go down to the black sand beach. There, on his back, with his board stuck in the sand and his eyes on the horizon, Hirvin was waiting for him. Together they learned to read the sea, to feel the direction of the wind. They used to warn strangers about the treacherous currents that dragged the unsuspecting out to sea, and over time they began to pass on their knowledge of the sea and surfing to the youngest members of the community. Patience is the greatest virtue of surfers, for those who know how to wait are the ones who manage to ride the perfect wave. Both spent their afternoons sitting on their boards, looking for the best strategy to get ahead, to help their community. It was there, floating in the sea, where Hirvin and Jorge identified an area with enormous potential. “We took tourism as a main tool, as a window that would connect us with other countries, to whom we could show the beauty of our land and invite them to visit our community”. They were confident that they could generate new jobs in the town. “I was a surf instructor at the time and I felt that this sport would be fundamental for everything that happened later in El Zonte,” says Jorge. No one could have imagined that on that beach, surrounded by humble houses and dirt roads, the world’s first Bitcoin circular economy would emerge. Soon, Jorge and Hirvin’s paths would cross with the person who would change their lives. “For some twist of fate, people like Mike, Melissa, Carlos and Alex decided to move to El Zonte and dedicate their time and effort to help our community,” recalls Jorge. The beach and surfing were their rallying point. “We were kids, I remember they started teaching us English, they put us in contact with the tourists that were arriving, and that cultural exchange was what began to change our minds. This allowed us to dream, something we were not used to in El Zonte. They showed us that, no matter the circumstances, if we have dreams and commit to them, things can change.” Jorge evokes the figure of Mike Peterson and, in a moment, he realizes that his life could have been very different if he had not met him. With Mike’s incorporation into the project, they began to systematize the community work on the beach. The idea was simple: create opportunities and hope for young people. Empower them as leaders and give them the necessary tools so that they do not have to emigrate or get involved in gangs. Fill the “children’s love tank,” as Jorge defines it in his own words. “When we were little they taught us some words in English, they helped us to read and write better, but it was when my daughter, who is 17 today, was born that I understood that we had been children with an empty love tank.” A community where children grew up without parents or older siblings present to give them love, support and an example to follow. “We all have a tank, it can be empty or it can be filled with love and hope. That’s what the kids in our community needed.” Mike wasn’t just a blue-eyed gringo who came to El Zonte and fell in love with its beaches and people. Peterson arrived as a surfer but soon became a dream maker. Discover more in Bitcoin Circular Economies This excerpt is just the beginning. Dive deeper into how Bitcoin is transforming communities worldwide in Bitcoin Circular Economies. The e-book is available now, and the paperback is open for pre-order for only $21 for a limited time. Order your copy here This post An Excerpt From Bitcoin Circular Economies: The Beginning first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Gabriel Kurman.

[Bitcoin Magazine](https://bitcoinmagazine.com)
![](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/BCE-1200x628-Article-Header-V2-1.webp)
[An Excerpt From Bitcoin Circular Economies: The Beginning](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/bitcoin-books/an-excerpt-from-bitcoin-circular-economies-the-beginning)

When people picture a tropical beach with volcanic sands, warm waters and dreamy surfing waves, they are describing [El Zonte](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/el-salvador-bitcoin-news/dare-to-dream-a-film-unveiling-the-genesis-of-bitcoin-beach?utm_source=chatgpt.com), in El Salvador. It’s hard to think that this natural paradise was once the battleground of Latin America’s most savage and violent gangs for decades. According to a UNICEF report, the homicide rate in 2015 was 103 per 100,000 inhabitants. The result was thousands of children orphaned and vulnerable to be recruited by the drug cartels, where the only option for a better life seemed to be to migrate to the United States.

Chimbera was born in the community of El Zonte, where opportunities were divided by a road which separated the beach from the mountains. “In the past if you were born on the beach, you were a fisherman, like my father and grandfather. If you were born in the mountains, you were a farmer; while women were mainly housewives. The only hope for a better future for young people was to emigrate to the United States or Canada. We learned with sadness that the opportunities were there, the land of freedom where dreams supposedly came true. Paradoxically, these words come from a smiling face. It is very easy to fall in love with Román Martínez’s smile; known as “Chimbera” to his closest friends and family. His contagious joy comes from someone who knows in depth the darkest sides a society can fall into. His smile tells a story of collective overcoming, where a group of people believed that a better future was possible and, without expectations but with tireless determination, transformed a fishing village in one of the poorest and most violent countries in the world into a hub of technological innovation and human development. Something unusual in modern history.

[![](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/BCE-970x250-1.png "An Excerpt From Bitcoin Circular Economies: The Beginning 6")](https://bm.b.tc/4mexI2G)

Chimbera looks to the sky before continuing to reflect on dreams. “We believe in God and in the law of attraction of different things, but it is fundamental to believe in something that moves you to commit and work every day for that dream.  In the beginning, the dream was to help kids have more opportunities in the community, keep them out of delinquency and get them to start dreaming.” The problem, Román highlights, is that many times they tell you “fight for your dreams” but they don’t give you the tools or the knowledge to be able to achieve them. “That’s how our dream began: Jorge meeting with the children on the street, supporting them and inspiring them to dream of a better future.

It’s hard not to get emotional with Jorge Valenzuela as he tearfully explains why they decided to create Hope House. “We sought to give these children the opportunities that our friends didn’t have and the reason why many of them are no longer here with us.” Like most of the residents of El Zonte, he too has a story to tell. Some twenty years ago, Jorge made his living from farming. He had a heart for surfing and the waves, but the sad reality around him forced him to keep his feet on the ground. At that time, the job market only offered two options: to become a gang member or to be hired as private security on a property. The sad and violent reality of those years presented a dead end. “There was a lack of employment, educational and personal development opportunities in general. Faced with this, many sought to emigrate and look for them elsewhere,” Jorge explains clearly.

During those years, in the mornings, when the sun began to peek over the mountains, Jorge knew what he wanted to do. He would take his board and go down to the black sand beach. There, on his back, with his board stuck in the sand and his eyes on the horizon, Hirvin was waiting for him. Together they learned to read the sea, to feel the direction of the wind. They used to warn strangers about the treacherous currents that dragged the unsuspecting out to sea, and over time they began to pass on their knowledge of the sea and surfing to the youngest members of the community. Patience is the greatest virtue of surfers, for those who know how to wait are the ones who manage to ride the perfect wave. Both spent their afternoons sitting on their boards, looking for the best strategy to get ahead, to help their community. It was there, floating in the sea, where Hirvin and Jorge identified an area with enormous potential. “We took tourism as a main tool, as a window that would connect us with other countries, to whom we could show the beauty of our land and invite them to visit our community”. They were confident that they could generate new jobs in the town. “I was a surf instructor at the time and I felt that this sport would be fundamental for everything that happened later in El Zonte,” says Jorge.

No one could have imagined that on that beach, surrounded by humble houses and dirt roads, the world’s first Bitcoin circular economy would emerge. Soon, Jorge and Hirvin’s paths would cross with the person who would change their lives. “For some twist of fate, people like Mike, Melissa, Carlos and Alex decided to move to El Zonte and dedicate their time and effort to help our community,” recalls Jorge. The beach and surfing were their rallying point. “We were kids, I remember they started teaching us English, they put us in contact with the tourists that were arriving, and that cultural exchange was what began to change our minds. This allowed us to dream, something we were not used to in El Zonte. They showed us that, no matter the circumstances, if we have dreams and commit to them, things can change.” Jorge evokes the figure of Mike Peterson and, in a moment, he realizes that his life could have been very different if he had not met him.

With Mike’s incorporation into the project, they began to systematize the community work on the beach. The idea was simple: create opportunities and hope for young people. Empower them as leaders and give them the necessary tools so that they do not have to emigrate or get involved in gangs. Fill the “children’s love tank,” as Jorge defines it in his own words. “When we were little they taught us some words in English, they helped us to read and write better, but it was when my daughter, who is 17 today, was born that I understood that we had been children with an empty love tank.” A community where children grew up without parents or older siblings present to give them love, support and an example to follow. “We all have a tank, it can be empty or it can be filled with love and hope. That’s what the kids in our community needed.”

Mike wasn’t just a blue-eyed gringo who came to El Zonte and fell in love with its beaches and people. Peterson arrived as a surfer but soon became a dream maker.

**[Discover more in _Bitcoin Circular Economies_](https://bm.b.tc/4mexI2G)**
This excerpt is just the beginning. Dive deeper into how Bitcoin is transforming communities worldwide in _Bitcoin Circular Economies_. The e-book is available now, and the paperback is open for pre-order for only **$21 for a limited time**.

![👉](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/16.0.1/72x72/1f449.png) **[Order your copy here](https://bm.b.tc/4mexI2G)**

This post [An Excerpt From Bitcoin Circular Economies: The Beginning](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/bitcoin-books/an-excerpt-from-bitcoin-circular-economies-the-beginning) first appeared on [Bitcoin Magazine](https://bitcoinmagazine.com) and is written by [Gabriel Kurman](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/authors/janebitcoinmagazine-com).


One of the paradoxes I noticed about us humans over the last 15 years coaching humans – and being coached myself – is that we live in this information age, yet “lack of information” is clearly not our challenge when it comes to changing the world, or changing our world for the better. Imagine you are offered the option of taking one of a series of pills, all of which have zero side effects. The first pill will boost your IQ by up to 23 points , while also combatting brain degeneration by ensuring that as you enter your 50s and beyond your brain will resemble that of a 20-year old. The second pill will lower your stress hormones by 60% and decrease any insomnia symptoms (if you have any) by 31%. The third pill will measurably increase your amount of gamma waves in the brain by 14% – these are the waves associated with higher cognition, information processing, perception, high alertness and attention. The fourth pill is focused on memory, and it will raise your performance on a memory task 10x. The fifth pill will measurably decrease each of the known psychological factors that weaken and ultimately end romantic relationship, or prevent us from finding one in the first place: including cynicism, criticism, attacking, pessimism, discontent and perfectionism. As a bonus, if you have children, it will also improve both your parenting, and improve your parent-child relationship. Which one would you take? Whatever your answer, now imagine that a smart scientist has devised a way where you can take one pill per day that has all five benefits however it does have one side effect, it will increase the amount of joy that you experience throughout the day, irrespective of outside events. So there is a catch. The pill has an initial consultation charge of $200, where a profession instructs you on when and how to administer this pill. Thereafter, the pill is free. And, it will take 20 minutes each day to administer this pill, during which time you will need to sit down in a comfortable position and relax. Would you still take the pill? Yes, the pill is a combination of meditation and a few simple breathing techniques Let’s break it down a little further: even the breathing techniques by themselves (SKY Breathing, from the Art of Living) has been shown to increase all five types of brain waves (2% higher delta waves, right up to 14%+ increase in gamma waves). Delta waves are associated with the deepest levels of relaxation, and are normally only seen in deep restorative and dreamless sleep. Theta waves are associated with learning and memory. Alpha waves are associated with concentration. There is also evidence that alpha waves have the potential to combat both depression and anxiety Beta waves are associated with a heightened state of alertness, logic and critical reasoning Gamma waves, as mentioned above, are associated with information processing, perception, high alertness and attention. Maybe next time you’re thinking of digesting some information, be it news, a book, or a podcast, you could experiment with swapping that out for some implementation time, by learning breathing and meditation techniques, which allow you to implement so much more of what you know. Disclosure: I am a breathing and meditation teacher, so you could say I’m biased. But then the research is objective, and has been reproduced many times. Also, the reason I started teaching these techniques was not random, it was because I noticed from my own direct experience tremendous benefits. Also, it’s something I do as a volunteer not as my profession, so there’s no financial incentive for me to spent time writing about meditation or teaching it. It does of course give me joy and a sense of higher purpose to see other people reproduce the same benefits I experienced. So it is not without reward. If you are interested in knowing more (ie: you’d like this last 5 minutes of reading time to result in implementation, not information) then flick me a note at @dsbatten on Twitter.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screen-Shot-2024-11-19-at-1.54.52-PM-1024x541.png)

One of the paradoxes I noticed about us humans over the last 15 years coaching humans – and being coached myself – is that we live in this information age, yet “lack of information” is clearly not our challenge when it comes to changing the world, or changing our world for the better.

Imagine you are offered the option of taking one of a series of pills, all of which have zero side effects.

The first pill will boost your IQ by up to [23 points](https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/want-to-raise-your-iq-by-23-percent-neuroscience-says-to-take-up-this-simple-hab.html) , while also combatting brain degeneration by ensuring that as you enter your 50s and beyond your brain will resemble that of a 20-year old.

The second pill will lower your stress hormones by 60% and decrease any insomnia symptoms (if you have any) by 31%.

The third pill will measurably increase your amount of [gamma waves in the brain](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32669767/#&gid=article-figures&pid=figure-2-uid-1) by 14% – these are the waves associated with higher cognition, information processing, perception, high alertness and attention.

The fourth pill is focused on memory, and it will raise your performance on a [memory task 10x](https://batcoinz.com/?page_id=2856).

The fifth pill will [measurably decrease](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333155515_Mindfulness_Meditation_is_Associated_with_Decreases_in_Partner_Negative_Affect_in_Daily_Life) each of the known psychological factors that weaken and ultimately end romantic relationship, or prevent us from finding one in the first place: including cynicism, criticism, attacking, pessimism, discontent and perfectionism. As a bonus, if you have children, it will also improve both your parenting, and [improve your parent-child relationship](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327796281_Parenting-Focused_Mindfulness_Intervention_Reduces_Stress_and_Improves_Parenting_in_Highly_Stressed_Mothers_of_Adolescents).

Which one would you take?

Whatever your answer, now imagine that a smart scientist has devised a way where you can take one pill per day that has all five benefits however it does have one side effect, it will increase the [amount of joy](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930143000392?journalCode=pcem20) that you experience throughout the day, irrespective of outside events.

So there is a catch. The pill has an initial consultation charge of $200, where a profession instructs you on when and how to administer this pill. Thereafter, the pill is free. And, it will take 20 minutes each day to administer this pill, during which time you will need to sit down in a comfortable position and relax.

Would you still take the pill?

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screen-Shot-2024-11-18-at-11.01.10-AM-1024x574.png)

Yes, the pill is a combination of meditation and a few simple breathing techniques

Let’s break it down a little further: even the breathing techniques by themselves (SKY Breathing, from the Art of Living) has been shown to increase all five types of brain waves (2% higher delta waves, right up to 14%+ increase in gamma waves).

Delta waves are associated with the deepest levels of relaxation, and are normally only seen in [deep restorative and dreamless sleep.](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/brain-waves)

Theta waves are associated with [learning and memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta_wave).

Alpha waves are associated with concentration. There is also evidence that alpha waves have the potential to combat both [depression and anxiety](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-alpha-brain-waves-5113721)

Beta waves are associated with a heightened state of [alertness, logic and critical reasoning](https://m1psychology.com/brain-waves-and-hypnosis/)

Gamma waves, as mentioned above, are associated with information processing, perception, high alertness and attention.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screen-Shot-2024-11-18-at-11.01.49-AM-1.png)

Maybe next time you’re thinking of digesting some information, be it news, a book, or a podcast, you could experiment with swapping that out for some implementation time, by learning breathing and meditation techniques, which allow you to implement so much more of what you know.

**Disclosure:** I am a breathing and meditation teacher, so you could say I’m biased. But then the research is objective, and has been reproduced many times. Also, the reason I started teaching these techniques was not random, it was because I noticed from my own direct experience tremendous benefits. Also, it’s something I do as a volunteer not as my profession, so there’s no financial incentive for me to spent time writing about meditation or teaching it. It does of course give me joy and a sense of higher purpose to see other people reproduce the same benefits I experienced. So it is not without reward. If you are interested in knowing more (ie: you’d like this last 5 minutes of reading time to result in implementation, not information) then flick me a note at @dsbatten on Twitter.


![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screen-Shot-2024-11-19-at-2.17.17-PM-1024x906.png)

The English word “measure” comes from the Sanskrit word “maya”. Maya refers to illusion, but also the measurable world. Bitcoin is perhaps the most important freedom technology in Maya, but it is still therefore part of the matrix, the world of things, of the measurable. While we talk of “escaping the matrix” in Bitcoin, and this is true that a relative escape is achieved by learning about how a fiat monetary system inhibits freedom across a range of measures, these are not the highest freedoms, because they are still relative freedoms within Maya,

To put it another way, Bitcoin can give many freedoms. And …the highest freedoms, Bitcoin cannot give you.

No asset or technology can.

You can have all the self-custodied Bitcoin, but …

If your mind continually moves from past events, to future plans, and you are unable to have it stay anchored in the present, then you are not free.

If you get triggered, and your emotions are decided by the words of others, then you are not free.

If you get irate and frustrated whenever someone criticises bitcoin then you are not free.

If you have many unrealised desires and ambitions that you believe you need to be fulfilled before you can be content, then you are not free.

If your mind gets unsettled when events do not go the way you want without delays or imperfections etc, then you are not free.

If while maintaining money, you fear losing it in the future, then you are not free.

If you feel fear when you lose some money or resources from your life, then you are not free.

If after realising one financial goal you feel compelled to quickly set a bigger one, then you are not free.

Bitcoin contributes to freedom. But it doesn’t cause freedom Freedom over your own mind is the ultimate self-sovereignty.


Bitcoin “Crossing the Chasm” and the DEATH OF ENERGY MISINFORMATION

I am an impact investor, more recently specializing in climatetech. Before that I was I ran a technology company. These experiences gave me some insights into the challenges that all new technologies face in achieving mainstream adoption. Bitcoin currently faces this same challenge. Let’s zoom in to where the chasm could be crossed, and what currently is holding it back. There is 65 Trillion of institutional investment that wants to invest in bitcoin but thinks they can’t (30 Trillion in impact funds, and another 35 Trillion in Sovereign Funds excluding Central Banks). The reason they think they can’t is they believe Bitcoin is a bad ESG story. This article investigates this claim in depth, against the backdrop of other disruptive technologies, so we can better spot trends, and filter out likely good information from likely misinformation. When I first heard the claim that Bitcoin could be positive for the environment, as an environmental campaigner and climatetech investor I was skeptical. After considerable due diligence however, I realized that there was a strong evidential basis to this claim, which I outline here. This question if very important, if not the most important question Bitcoin’s supporters must answer to the next group of potential Bitcoin adopters, because the “early majority” care deeply about environmental impact. In order that Bitcoin “crosses the chasm” from early adopters to the early majority, addressing Bitcoin’s (true) environmental impact must be addressed. There is no bypass, no shortcut for this. Unless and until this issue is addressed, Bitcoin will not “cross the chasm”. In Bitcoin’s adoption curve, the estimated 4.7% who hold Bitcoin are the early adopters. The next wave includes institutional investors, which in turn includes sovereign funds and ESG funds. They are the early majority. The early adopters tend to be highly suspicious of mainstream media. However the Early Majority are only somewhat skeptical. As a result, they have different beliefs about Bitcoin today. Here is a sample of statements that people who interface with, or sit on the Compliance Divisions and ESG Investment Committees of Sovereign Wealth Funds shared with me recently about Bitcoin. I have limited knowledge about Bitcoin other than “it’s bad for the environment, don’t touch.” “It’s conflicting with the idea of a Central Digital Currency so it can be very confusing for someone who’s not in the space” “We have other issues we have to solve before we think about Bitcoin” “I’ve heard of a lot of backlash against Bitcoin because of criminal activity and the dark web” “It’s using so much water. It’s using drinking water.” While these messages are not anchored in fact, they do represent the current opinion-set. Existing Bitcoin proponents must meet these people where they are at if they are to have any hope of changing this opinion-set, no matter how good the data. There are 3 stages to shifting these perspectives so that that early majority can invest in Bitcoin without value conflict Screening out noise Identifying false signal Reading pure signal Let’s address each in turn. 1. Noise Reduction The best way we can clear most of the noise around Bitcoin is not to start with Bitcoin, but to understand something I learnt while running my first technology company: if you’re going to bring a disruptive technology to the planet, you better be prepared for a lot of gaslighting from the people you disrupt. This has happened to every disruptive tech since the telegraph in an unbroken chain of 21 technologies across 160 years. Let’s zoom in. Here’s some samples of how disruptive technologies and devices have been greeted through in the last 160 years. As we can see, long before Bitcoin was labelled by the media as an existential threat to humanity, the teddy bear was! Let’s zoom in a little more. I could have chosen anyone one of 21 industries but have chose two that like bitcoin disrupted multiple industries. The first was the bicycle. When the bicycle first rose to prominence in the 1890s, it disrupted horse drawn transport, riding apparel, public transit and the railway industry. As the disrupted industries launched their counteroffensive, new junk science came in almost immediately. Next, without empirical evidence, medical experts and academics started referring to four invented conditions you that you could supposedly get by riding a bicycle This created the environment of moral outrage where regulators and policymakers, who gained their information primarily from mainstream media, felt the right thing to do was to call for bans and restrictions. Source The prevalence of the term “bicycle face” serves as a guide as to when misinformation about the bicycle peaked, and how long it took to eventually die out. source: Google Ngram Viewer The bicycle was no one off event. The response to another technology that disrupt multiple industries, the radio, followed an almost identical pattern. Immediately after the radio began rising to prominence in the 1920s, junk science about the radio was reported in the mainstream media. The radio was blamed for everything from jailbreaks to snowstorms. Next, without empirical evidence, medical experts and other authority figures started referring to four conditions that you could supposedly get by listening to the radio. Once again, this created the environment of moral outrage where regulators and policymakers, who gained their information primarily from mainstream media, felt the right thing to do was to call for bans and restrictions. source: pessimistsarchive.org The chart on radio misinformation in mainstream media took on an uncannily similar shape to the earlier bicycle misinformation chart: an initial peak around 7 years after inception, but then a long tail with several smaller peaks within that tail. The similarity is even more striking when we view the charts side by side. Bitcoin’s journey has been almost identical to that of the bicycle and the radio. Bitcoin disrupts (at least) four industries: Central Banks, Banking, The Gold Industry and Remittance Payments. Bitcoin has been met with similar junk science, as we will investigate in the next section “false signal”, which has again created the environment where policy-makers and regulators who rely heavily on mainstream news sources for information have felt it appropriate to call for bans and restrictions. We are currently about here in the media cycle around Bitcoin and energy. The key takeout is this, the early majority does not have to suddenly trust the media as little as the early adopters. They simply need to see that trusting mainstream media sources for accurate reporting on a disruptive technology during the first 16 years is, based on history, an extremely risky approach. Seeing Bitcoin as just another disruptive technology, which inevitably follows the same “rite of passage” towards eventual acceptable after an elongated baptism of misinformation fire can help the early majority screen out 80% of the noise about Bitcoin, and regain the intellectual curiosity to take an objective look at Bitcoin. Step two: identify false signal In Radio and the Bicycle’s case the false signal was supplied by medics. In Bitcoin’s case it was a data a see scientist named Alex de Vries who in May 2018 wrote a five-page commentary called Bitcoin’s Growing Energy Problem The word commentary is important. According to Nature, commentaries are shorter, have a lighter review process and generally reflect the author’s perspective, rather than reporting new empirical data. De Vries’s article was a commentary, and the perspective he put forward was “We can measure Bitcoin’s use of energy per transaction to show that the Bitcoin network cannot scale without vastly increasing emissions. His commentary was a hit. In 2017 there was 1 article on Bitcoin’s energy usage. In 2018, the year of de Vries’ commentary, there were more than 400. The problem is that his perspective was invalid because Bitcoin’s energy use does not come from its transactions, meaning it could handle 1000 times more transactions, yet use no more energy. Cambridge University called the per transaction measure “not a meaningful metric”. But the media and other authors kept citing it anyway. Then the regulators, Central Banks, and NGOs joined them. The per transaction metric was refuted a further four times, this time in academic journals (Masenet et al, Dittmar et al, Sedlmeir et al and Sai & Vranken). But the metric not only kept on spreading, it mutated. Specifically, energy per transaction mutated into three other variants. Emissions per transaction eWaste per transaction Water use per transaction All three were new variants of the original strain stemmed directly from new commentaries or papers authored by Alex de Vries. De Vries under his own name or that of his blog Digiconomist, became the most frequently cited researcher in the media. His commentary was the origin point for every academic article on Bitcoin’s environmental impact over the next five years, which have now amassed collectively over 4500 citations. In the Whitehouse’s 2022 report on cryptomining, de Vries/digiconomist was referenced not just more than, but four times more than anyone else. He was also the most cited author in GreenpeaceUSAs ChangeTheCode campaign. There are two fundamental issues with metric upon which this narrative was built. The first is as we have said that there is actually no causal connection between transactions and Bitcoin’s energy consumption, meaning the network can easily scale its transaction volume without adding to emissions. Just as it’s been doing over the last 4 years already, as we can see from tracking the pink emissions line in the chart below, where hashrate (orange) has increased eight-fold and price (blue) has increased six-fold, but emissions have remained static over a full four year cycle. The second issue is “semantic ambiguity”. Here’s an everyday example of how semantic ambiguity can mislead. Imagine I agree to pay you one million dollars for a job. You finish the job, ask for payment and I send you one million Zimbabwean dollars. You would probably feel aggrieved. Just as “one million dollars” has a very different meaning based on location, so does the word “transaction”. In the traditional finance world, a transaction means a ledger entry. In the Bitcoin world, a single blockchain transaction can contain over 2000 traditional transactions, and using the layer-2 network (Lightning network) billions of traditional financial transactions. Just as the idea that radio waves could shatter windows, kill birds or trigger snowstorms is now viewed as absurd, ten years from now people will be looking back at us, and these news reports that a single Bitcoin transaction could cost $100 in electricity, create two cellphones of ewaste, drain a swimming pool, emit 3 households of co2, and and say “those crazy people in the 20s, did they really believe that junk science about Bitcoin & Energy in the media? Surely not.” Yet this false signal has helped persuade a large number of impact investors, regulators and environmentalists away from adopting Bitcoin. I was almost a casualty. Part 3: Pure Signal In the last 2 years, something unexpected and remarkable happened. The quality of academic reporting on Bitcoin has now improved not just a little bit, but beyond all recognition, across a range of metrics – articles replaced commentaries, datasets are no longer anecdotal, and methodologies are now anchored in how the blockchain works. As a result, we are now getting a pure signal in stereo, both from academic consensus(10 of the last 11 papers on bitcoin and energy) and those in the field who’ve observed bitcoin firsthand. And the signal we are hearing is that Bitcoin solves major environmental problems, stabilizes the grid while providing a rare profitable path to destroy one of our most potent greenhouse gases. And the media is catching on and catching up. Media coverage on Bitcoin and energy has dropped away. And the remaining articles are now mostly picking up on the pure signal. At the same time, the eWaste issue was debunked with ERS, one of the world’s top electronics recyclers stating that Bitcoin mining units are “100% recyclable. None of the parts go into a landfill. They are easier than other electronics to recycle because they don’t have the same toxic metals”. We also discovered that far from creating water scarcity, Bitcoin was helping to resolve it in dry countries including UAE, where Bitcoin mining company MARA is recycling heat from Bitcoin mining units to run water desalination plants more efficiently, one of just 8 examples of how Bitcoin heat gets recycled. The concept that Bitcoin was only used by criminals … was laid to rest by the US Treasury, who in their 2024 National Money Laundering Report stated “the use of virtual assets for money laundering continues to remain far below that of fiat currency” So who is using Bitcoin? Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation showed 19 humanitarian use cases for bitcoin, already likely positively impacting over 100M people, most of whom are unbanked, in energy poverty, refugees, or experiencing hyperinflation. He documented these humanitarian benefits in a recent conference address. There are now 21 documented environmental benefits to Bitcoin. We won’t go into all 21 here, but here are a few highlights. Building on the Cambridge model, the Digital Assets Research Institute showed that Since 2021, Bitcoin has become the world’s most sustainably powered industry. As of Nov 2024, Bitcoin Mining has risen to 56.75% sustainable energy powered. It is also the industry with the lowest emission intensity. That means that Bitcoin is now likely reducing net emissions by replacing their fossil fuel dependent prequels: banking as a medium of exchange, and gold as a store of value. Numerous studies, including this Cornell study from decorated scientist Fengqi You, found the same thing the grid owners found, that Bitcoin mining is a buyer for wasted renewable energy generated at a time or in a place other consumers cannot use it, making the renewable generator more profitable. The profit is reinvested to build more solar and wind power faster, accelerating the renewable transition. Carbon Debt and Payback Period Outside the climatetech sector, most people don’t realize that all climatetech starts off emitting more than it offsets. So as a climatetech investor, I’m interested in the net emission reduction potential and the payback period. Solar had a carbon debt for 57 years. Carbon sequestration’s carbon debt looks on track to be similar. The companies we invest in, we aim for under 30 years. Bitcoin, we estimate will be ~ 23yrs, less than half the time it took solar. But this is what excites me the most. Bitcoin mining can do something that other industries cannot do at scale, it can profitably use stranded methane as a fuel source that would otherwise have vented into the air. By destroying methane, a potent gas 84x more warming over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide, Bitcoin mining helps meet the UNs methane reduction goals without need for government incentives. The UN has called methane reduction our strongest lever to reduce climate change in the next 25 years. Unlike any other technologies, Bitcoin can profitably mitigate methane in any jurisdiction without waiting for political will. One of our 3 major storehouses of climate-change causing methane is landfills. Unreported by the media, there are now 5 Bitcoin mining companies on landfills and a total of 29 Bitcoin mining companies overall profitably carbon negative destroying methane emissions from landfills, oil fields and farms. Collectively they already mitigate 7% of the bitcoin network’s emissions. When will it reach 100%? 35 mid-sized venting landfills is all it takes to take the entire Bitcoin network carbon negative. This is something no industry has ever achieved without offsets. Bitcoin Mining and Landfills Peter Drucker once said “the best way to predict the future is to create it. So my third climatetech fund is an infrastructure fund that invests in Bitcoin mining companies using landfill gas for power. They are literally turning trash into digital gold. And because they destroy a greenhouse gas, they also generate carbon credits, which improves everyone’s returns. The landfill owner turns an environmental hazard into money. The Bitcoin mining company gets power at the bottom third of the cost curve. And as the infrastructure financiers, we get the returns of a CCC-rated asset class with the risk profile of a BB-rated one. But more importantly, this mitigates 45 times more emissions per dollar invested than the equivalent investment into photovoltaics. Summary Misunderstanding and misinformation is not new, it is the price you pay for being a very disruptive technology. Bitcoin, like all nascent disruptive technologies has followed the same rite of passage of initially being misunderstood by the masses, understood by the few. Eventually, this information asymmetry will be corrected and the masses will wish they saw Bitcoin unencumbered by the noise and false signal earlier. Bitcoin has been the best performing asset of the last 10 years by far, and for the reasons outlined above, I expect it to be the best ESG asset of the next 10 years. If it can achieve this, it will not only have “crossed the chasm”, it will be approaching the ubiquity of the Internet; something entirely possible given its current growth rate.

I am an impact investor, more recently specializing in climatetech. Before that I was I ran a technology company. These experiences gave me some insights into the challenges that all new technologies face in achieving mainstream adoption.

Bitcoin currently faces this same challenge. Let’s zoom in to where the chasm could be crossed, and what currently is holding it back.

There is **65** Trillion of institutional investment that wants to invest in **bitcoin** but thinks they can’t ([30 Trillion](https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/sustainable-finance/esg-aum-set-to-top-40-trillion-by-2030-anchor-capital-markets/) in impact funds, and another 35 Trillion in Sovereign Funds excluding Central Banks).

The reason they think they can’t is they believe **Bitcoin** is a bad ESG story. This article investigates this claim in depth, against the backdrop of other disruptive technologies, so we can better spot trends, and filter out likely good information from likely misinformation. When I first heard the claim that Bitcoin could be positive for the environment, as an environmental campaigner and climatetech investor I was skeptical. After considerable due diligence however, I realized that there was a strong evidential basis to this claim, which I outline here.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-19-at-11.54.49-AM-1024x633.png)

This question if very important, if not the most important question Bitcoin’s supporters must answer to the next group of potential Bitcoin adopters, because the “early majority” care deeply about **environmental impact**.

In order that Bitcoin “crosses the chasm” from early adopters to the early majority, addressing Bitcoin’s (true) environmental impact must be addressed. There is no bypass, no shortcut for this. Unless and until this issue is addressed, Bitcoin will not “cross the chasm”.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-6.41.21-PM-1024x519.png)

**In** Bitcoin’s adoption curve, the estimated [4.7%](https://woocharts.com/bitcoin-total-users/) who hold Bitcoin are the early adopters. The **next wave** includes institutional investors, which in turn includes sovereign funds and ESG funds. They are the early majority. The early adopters tend to be highly suspicious of mainstream media. However the Early Majority are only somewhat skeptical. As a result, they have different beliefs about Bitcoin today.

Here is a sample of statements that people who interface with, or sit on the Compliance Divisions and ESG Investment Committees of Sovereign Wealth Funds shared with me recently about Bitcoin.

_I have limited knowledge about Bitcoin other than “it’s bad for the environment, don’t touch.”_

_“It’s conflicting with the idea of a Central Digital Currency so it can be very confusing for someone who’s not in the space”_

_“We have other issues we have to solve before we think about Bitcoin”_

_“I’ve heard of a lot of backlash against Bitcoin because of criminal activity and the dark web”_

_“It’s using so much water. It’s using drinking water.”_

While these messages are not anchored in fact, they do represent the current opinion-set. Existing Bitcoin proponents must meet these people where they are at if they are to have any hope of changing this opinion-set, no matter how good the data.

**There are 3 stages to shifting these perspectives so that that early majority can invest in Bitcoin without value conflict**

*   **Screening** out noise
*   **Identifying** false signal
*   **Reading** pure signal

Let’s address each in turn.

1\. **Noise Reduction**
-----------------------

The best way we can clear most of the noise around Bitcoin is not to start with Bitcoin, but to understand something I learnt while running my first technology company: if you’re going to bring a disruptive technology to the planet, you better be prepared for a lot of gaslighting from the people you disrupt.

This has happened to **every** disruptive tech since the telegraph in an unbroken chain of 21 technologies across 160 years.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-6.54.32-PM-1024x572.png)

Let’s zoom in. Here’s some samples of how disruptive technologies and devices have been greeted through in the last 160 years.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-6.56.02-PM-1024x589.png)

As we can see, long before **Bitcoin** was labelled by the media as an existential threat to humanity, the teddy bear was!

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-6.56.33-PM-1024x563.png)

Let’s zoom in a little more. I could have chosen anyone one of 21 industries but have chose two that like bitcoin disrupted multiple industries.

The first was the bicycle. When the bicycle first rose to prominence in the 1890s, it disrupted horse drawn transport, riding apparel, public transit and the railway industry.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.34.47-PM-1024x575.png)

As the disrupted industries launched their counteroffensive, new junk science came in almost immediately.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.35.52-PM-1024x569.png)

Next, without empirical evidence, medical experts and academics started referring to four invented conditions you that you could supposedly get by riding a bicycle

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.36.57-PM-1024x568.png)

This created the environment of moral outrage where regulators and policymakers, who gained their information primarily from mainstream media, felt the right thing to do was to call for bans and restrictions.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.39.12-PM-1024x304.png)

[Source](https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/uhr/1999-v28-n1-uhr0646/1016555ar.pdf)

The prevalence of the term “bicycle face” serves as a guide as to when misinformation about the bicycle peaked, and how long it took to eventually die out.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.40.23-PM-1024x835.png)

**source**: [Google Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bicycle+face&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbicycle%20face%3B%2Cc0)

The bicycle was no one off event. The response to another technology that disrupt multiple industries, the radio, followed an almost identical pattern.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.44.31-PM-1024x571.png)

Immediately after the radio began rising to prominence in the 1920s, junk science about the radio was reported in the mainstream media. The radio was blamed for everything from jailbreaks to snowstorms.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.46.52-PM-1024x574.png)

Next, without empirical evidence, medical experts and other authority figures started referring to four conditions that you could supposedly get by listening to the radio.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-7.50.08-PM-1024x573.png)

Once again, this created the environment of moral outrage where regulators and policymakers, who gained their information primarily from mainstream media, felt the right thing to do was to call for bans and restrictions.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-8.08.36-PM-1024x720.png)

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-8.09.14-PM.png)

**source**: pessimistsarchive.org

The chart on radio misinformation in mainstream media took on an uncannily similar shape to the earlier bicycle misinformation chart: an initial peak around 7 years after inception, but then a long tail with several smaller peaks within that tail. The similarity is even more striking when we view the charts side by side.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-8.14.01-PM-1024x552.png)

Bitcoin’s journey has been almost identical to that of the bicycle and the radio. Bitcoin disrupts (at least) four industries: Central Banks, Banking, The Gold Industry and Remittance Payments.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-8.22.28-PM-1024x576.png)

Bitcoin has been met with similar junk science, as we will investigate in the next section “false signal”, which has again created the environment where policy-makers and regulators who rely heavily on mainstream news sources for information have felt it appropriate to call for bans and restrictions. We are currently about here in the media cycle around Bitcoin and energy.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-16-at-8.21.00-PM-1024x643.png)

The key takeout is this, the early majority does not have to suddenly trust the media as little as the early adopters. They simply need to see that trusting mainstream media sources for accurate reporting on a disruptive technology during the first 16 years is, based on history, an extremely risky approach.

Seeing Bitcoin as just another disruptive technology, which inevitably follows the same “rite of passage” towards eventual acceptable after an elongated baptism of misinformation fire can help the early majority screen out 80% of the noise about Bitcoin, and regain the intellectual curiosity to take an objective look at Bitcoin.

**Step two: identify false signal**
-----------------------------------

In Radio and the Bicycle’s case the false signal was supplied by medics. In Bitcoin’s case it was a data a see scientist named Alex de Vries who in May 2018 wrote a five-page commentary called Bitcoin’s Growing Energy Problem

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-17-at-12.37.16-PM-1024x670.png)

The word commentary is


How Activist NGOs Have Unintentionally STALLED Progress TOWARDS Ending Gas Flaring

The World Bank set an ambitious goal: eliminate nearly all gas flaring by 2030. Flaring, the burning of excess natural gas during oil extraction, is a major environmental problem, releasing millions of tons of CO2e (CO2 equivalents) in the form of methane and other toxic pollutants into the atmosphere annually. The problem is, flaring only burns 91.1% of the methane, so the other 8.9% goes unburnt directly into the atmosphere. This contributes to climate change significantly because methane is 84 times more warming over a 20 year period than CO2. In regions like the Middle East, flaring has been shown to cause more harm than previously thought, with recent studies revealing higher levels of toxic gases like benzene and sulfur dioxide (source: World Bank Global Gas Flaring Tracker, 2023). Despite the urgency, progress to end flaring has been slow. While there are many factors at play, but one of the most significant barrier is also the most overlooked: environmental NGOs themselves, specifically a small handful of the more ideologically-driven activist environmental NGOs. These organizations, while well-intentioned, have consistently criticized and undermined almost all efforts from outside commercial organizations to collaborate with oil and gas companies to reduce flaring. In this article, we’ll examine how this tendency to label such initiatives as “greenwashing,” their failure to offer viable alternatives, and their creation of an environment of fear have disincentivized other industries from partnering with oil companies to address this critical issue. The result? Flaring continues unabated and the environment, that these NGOs exist to be faithful stewards to, suffers. False positives: The harmful side-effect of calling something “greenwash” that’s not One counter-productive tendency of these NGOs has been their eagerness to label any and all collaboration with oil and gas companies as “greenwashing.” This term, which refers to superficial or misleading environmental claims, has become a catch-all critique for any effort to reduce flaring. These environmental NGO critiques are often reactive rather than analytical. For instance, when General Electric (GE) and Baker Hughes developed technologies to capture and utilize stranded gas, environmental groups like Sierra Club and Greenpeace accused them of “enabling continued fossil fuel extraction” without acknowledging the tangible emissions reductions these technologies achieved (source: Sierra Club Statement, 2020; Greenpeace International, 2020). By focusing on ideological purity rather than measurable outcomes, these NGOs have created a chilling effect, discouraging companies from pursuing innovative solutions to flaring. Incredibly, these criticisms have continued even when direct, measurable, and significant reduction of methane emissions has been the result. For example, when Crusoe Energy, a Bitcoin mining company, partnered with oil producers to convert flared gas into electricity, Jesse Simons, Deputy Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign, dismissed the initiative as “propping up the fossil fuel industry” (source: Sierra Club Press Release, 2022). Similarly, John Noël, Senior Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, criticized ExxonMobil’s pilot project with Crusoe in the Permian Basin, calling it a “distraction from the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels entirely” (source: Greenpeace USA Statement, 2021). Criticism Without Solutions Another issue is the tendency of these NGOs to criticize without offering alternatives. For example, when BP partnered with Climeworks, a carbon capture company, to explore using captured methane for industrial purposes, and when Shell worked with Enerflex, a gas processing company to reduce flaring at their oilfields, Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), accused both companies of using flaring reduction as a “public relations tool” (source: CIEL Press Release, 2021). Similarly, Friends of the Earth criticized waste-to-energy startup Ener-Core for “perpetuating the fossil fuel economy” without proposing a practical alternative for addressing stranded gas (source: Friends of the Earth Report, 2019). While it is an absolutely legitimate function of an environmental NGO to help the public understand when genuine greenwash is at play, the universal tendency across NGOs to label all collaborations with oil companies to end flaring as “greenwash” suggests strongly that there is neither analysis nor discrimination at play here on the part of these environmental NGOs, rather guilty verdict by virtue of the fact one would deign to partner with an oil company. Well, if outside organizations cannot partner with oil companies to deal with methane emissions, oil companies will continue with their own solution: flaring. The environment deserves better service than that. This pattern of criticism without constructive solutions is not only unhelpful but counterproductive. Flaring is a complex problem that requires immediate action. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that oil will still account for 22% of global energy demand in 2050, even in a net-zero scenario (source: IEA Net Zero by 2050 Report, 2021). Given this reality, the choice is not between oil production and no oil production—it is between flaring/venting and utilizing the gas in a way that reduces emissions. By dismissing efforts to address flaring without offering viable alternatives, these NGOs have effectively pushed the industry toward the most environmentally harmful option: continued flaring. How an Environment of Fear Disincentivizes Collaboration Perhaps the most counterproductive consequence of these NGOs’ actions is the environment of fear they have created. Companies that might otherwise partner with oil and gas producers to reduce flaring are often deterred by the risk of reputational damage. For example, renewable energy developers like NextEra Energy and Ørsted have considered using stranded gas for power generation but faced backlash from groups like 350.org and Oil Change International. These organizations accused NextEra of “betraying its renewable energy mission” and Ørsted of “legitimizing the fossil fuel industry” (source: 350.org Press Release, 2021; Oil Change International Report, 2021). This environment of fear has stifled innovation and collaboration. Waste-to-energy startups, renewable energy developers, and even technology giants like GE and Baker Hughes have been reluctant to engage with oil and gas companies, fearing the wrath of activist NGOs. The result is a missed opportunity to reduce emissions and accelerate the transition to a cleaner energy future. Bitcoin Mining: A Pragmatic Exception In this context, Bitcoin mining has emerged as a rare exception. Companies like Crusoe Energy and Upstream Data have been willing to partner with oil producers to convert flared gas into electricity, reducing emissions and generating economic value. These initiatives have been praised by the World Economic Forum for their tangible impact on flaring reduction, even as they face criticism from some NGOs. Crusoe’s projects in North Dakota and Wyoming have reduced flaring by over 90% at partnered sites (source: Crusoe Energy Case Studies, 2023). Similarly, Upstream Data’s operations in Canada have prevented millions of tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually (source: Upstream Data Reports, 2022). Bitcoin mining’s success in addressing flaring highlights the importance of focusing on outcomes over ideology. NGOs like Sierra Club and Greenpeace were highly criticized of these partnerships at their inception, but have not acknowledged the measurable emissions reductions they ended up achieving. Analysis before ideology For us to have any hope of working collaboratively to end flaring, it’s critical for enviromental NGOs to step up and stop crying “greenwash” without analysis, as has been their tendency, to the detriment of the environment and collaborative action. The fight against flaring is too important to be derailed by ideological purity, and there is a phrase in the environmental movement that they would do well to remember “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. While the intentions of activist NGOs are good, good intentions divorsed from nuanced thinking can and has been counterproductive to the very environmental progress they only exist to create. Their reactive criticism, lack of viable alternatives, and creation of an environment of fear have hindered progress on this critical issue. To truly address flaring, we need a new approach—one that prioritizes measurable outcomes and encourages collaboration. These critiques, while well-intentioned, are misguided. By discouraging collaboration with oil companies, these NGOs inadvertently push the industry to deal with methane emissions in the most environmentally harmful way: flaring or venting. Continued inaction is simply not an option. It’s time for environmental organizations to stop criticicing every imperfect effort to move forward, and get their own house in order. In practical terms, this means: Properly evaluating whether collaborations are greenwash, or whether they can make a measurable difference Learning to work alongside commercial operations to better understand their motivations and strategies before simply criticizing them Taking time to do their own research, including engaging with experts in the domain (something that has been conspicuous by its absent in NGOs criticisms of Bitcoin mining and other industries) Take responsibility for the fact that they have the power to aid environmental progress, but equally the power to hinder progress through criticizing they may not fully understand and which may in fact be a solution, or part of the solution. Free themselves from the trap of overzealously declaring “greenwashing” even when it’s a false positive, and focus on what really matters: working collaboratively to reduce emissions and protecting the environment.

The World Bank set an ambitious goal: eliminate nearly [all gas flaring by 2030](https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/zero-routine-flaring-by-2030). Flaring, the burning of excess natural gas during oil extraction, is a [major environmental problem](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63051458), releasing millions of tons of CO2e (CO2 equivalents) in the form of methane and other toxic pollutants into the atmosphere annually. The problem is, flaring only burns 91.1% of the methane, so the other 8.9% goes unburnt directly into the atmosphere. This contributes to climate change significantly because methane is [84 times more warming](https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/speech/methane-action-tackling-warming-planet) over a 20 year period than CO2.

![](https://batcoinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Shot-2025-01-28-at-9.59.33-AM-1024x679.png)

In regions like the Middle East, flaring has been shown to cause more harm than previously thought, with recent studies revealing [higher levels of toxic gases](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67522413) like benzene and sulfur dioxide (source: _World Bank Global Gas Flaring Tracker, 2023_). Despite the urgency, progress to end flaring has been slow. While there are many factors at play, but one of the most significant barrier is also the most overlooked: environmental NGOs themselves, specifically a small handful of the more ideologically-driven activist environmental NGOs.

These organizations, while well-intentioned, have consistently criticized and undermined almost all efforts from outside commercial organizations to collaborate with oil and gas companies to reduce flaring. In this article, we’ll examine how this tendency to label such initiatives as “greenwashing,” their failure to offer viable alternatives, and their creation of an environment of fear have disincentivized other industries from partnering with oil companies to address this critical issue.

The result? Flaring continues unabated and the environment, that these NGOs exist to be faithful stewards to, suffers.

* * *

### False positives: **The harmful side-effect of calling something “greenwash” that’s not**

One counter-productive tendency of these NGOs has been their eagerness to label any and all collaboration with oil and gas companies as “greenwashing.” This term, which refers to superficial or misleading environmental claims, has become a catch-all critique for any effort to reduce flaring.

These environmental NGO critiques are often reactive rather than analytical. For instance, when General Electric (GE) and Baker Hughes developed technologies to capture and utilize stranded gas, environmental groups like Sierra Club and Greenpeace accused them of “enabling continued fossil fuel extraction” without acknowledging the tangible emissions reductions these technologies achieved (source: _Sierra Club Statement, 2020_; _Greenpeace International, 2020_). By focusing on ideological purity rather than measurable outcomes, these NGOs have created a chilling effect, discouraging companies from pursuing innovative solutions to flaring.

Incredibly, these criticisms have continued even when direct, measurable, and significant reduction of methane emissions has been the result. For example, when Crusoe Energy, a Bitcoin mining company, partnered with oil producers to convert flared gas into electricity, Jesse Simons, Deputy Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign, dismissed the initiative as “propping up the fossil fuel industry” (source: _Sierra Club Press Release, 2022_). Similarly, John Noël, Senior Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, criticized ExxonMobil’s pilot project with Crusoe in the Permian Basin, calling it a “distraction from the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels entirely” (source: _Greenpeace USA Statement, 2021_).

* * *

### **Criticism Without Solutions**

Another issue is the tendency of these NGOs to criticize without offering alternatives. For example, when BP partnered with Climeworks, a carbon capture company, to explore using captured methane for industrial purposes, and when Shell worked with Enerflex, a gas processing company to reduce flaring at their oilfields, Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), accused both companies of using flaring reduction as a “public relations tool” (source: _CIEL Press Release, 2021_). Similarly, Friends of the Earth criticized waste-to-energy startup Ener-Core for “perpetuating the fossil fuel economy” without proposing a practical alternative for addressing stranded gas (source: _Friends of the Earth Report, 2019_).

While it is an absolutely legitimate function of an environmental NGO to help the public understand when genuine greenwash is at play, the universal tendency across NGOs to label all collaborations with oil companies to end flaring as “greenwash” suggests strongly that there is neither analysis nor discrimination at play here on the part of these environmental NGOs, rather guilty verdict by virtue of the fact one would deign to partner with an oil company. Well, if outside organizations cannot partner with oil companies to deal with methane emissions, oil companies will continue with their own solution: flaring. The environment deserves better service than that.

This pattern of criticism without constructive solutions is not only unhelpful but counterproductive. Flaring is a complex problem that requires immediate action. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that oil will still account for 22% of global energy demand in 2050, even in a net-zero scenario (source: _IEA Net Zero by 2050 Report, 2021_). Given this reality, the choice is not between oil production and no oil production—it is between flaring/venting and utilizing the gas in a way that reduces emissions. By dismissing efforts to address flaring without offering viable alternatives, these NGOs have effectively pushed the industry toward the most environmentally harmful option: continued flaring.

* * *

### **How an Environment of Fear Disincentivizes Collaboration**

Perhaps the most counterproductive consequence of these NGOs’ actions is the environment of fear they have created. Companies that might otherwise partner with oil and gas producers to reduce flaring are often deterred by the risk of reputational damage. For example, renewable energy developers like NextEra Energy and Ørsted have considered using stranded gas for power generation but faced backlash from groups like 350.org and Oil Change International. These organizations accused NextEra of “betraying its renewable energy mission” and Ørsted of “legitimizing the fossil fuel industry” (source: _350.org Press Release, 2021_; _Oil Change International Report, 2021_).

This environment of fear has stifled innovation and collaboration. Waste-to-energy startups, renewable energy developers, and even technology giants like GE and Baker Hughes have been reluctant to engage with oil and gas companies, fearing the wrath of activist NGOs. The result is a missed opportunity to reduce emissions and accelerate the transition to a cleaner energy future.

* * *

### **Bitcoin Mining: A Pragmatic Exception**

In this context, Bitcoin mining has emerged as a rare exception. Companies like Crusoe Energy and Upstream Data have been willing to partner with oil producers to convert flared gas into electricity, reducing emissions and generating economic value. These initiatives have been [praised by the World Economic Forum](https://www.weforum.org/videos/this-start-up-catches-waste-methane-to-power-data-centres/) for their tangible impact on flaring reduction, even as they face criticism from some NGOs. Crusoe’s projects in North Dakota and Wyoming have reduced flaring by over 90% at partnered sites (source: _Crusoe Energy Case Studies, 2023_). Similarly, Upstream Data’s operations in Canada have prevented millions of tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually (source: _Upstream Data Reports, 2022_).

Bitcoin mining’s success in addressing flaring highlights the importance of focusing on outcomes over ideology. NGOs like Sierra Club and Greenpeace were highly criticized of these partnerships at their inception, but have not acknowledged the measurable emissions reductions they ended up achieving.

* * *

### **Analysis before ideology**

For us to have any hope of working collaboratively to end flaring, it’s critical for enviromental NGOs to step up and stop crying “greenwash” without analysis, as has been their tendency, to the detriment of the environment and collaborative action. The fight against flaring is too important to be derailed by ideological purity, and there is a phrase in the environmental movement that they would do well to remember “the perfect is the enemy of the good”.

While the intentions of activist NGOs are good, good intentions divorsed from nuanced thinking can and has been counterproductive to the very environmental progress they only exist to create. Their reactive criticism, lack of viable alternatives, and creation of an environment of fear have hindered progress on this critical issue. To truly address flaring, we need a new approach—one that prioritizes measurable outcomes and encourages collaboration.

These critiques, while well-intentioned, are misguided. By discouraging collaboration with oil companies, these NGOs inadvertently push the industry to deal with methane emissions in the most environmentally harmful way: flaring or venting.

Continued inaction is simply not an option. It’s time for environmental organizations to stop criticicing every imperfect effort to move forward, and get their own house in order. In practical terms, this means:

1.  Properly evaluating whether collaborations are greenwash, or whether they can make a measurable difference
2.  Learning to work alongside commercial operations to better understand their motivations and strategies before simply criticizing them
3.  Taki


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sent u a DM