Hey everybody,

Now that the quiet part of the year is over and the second half has arrived, it’s time we let you know what’s been brewing for this year’s edition of The Bitcoin Times!

Edition 6 shall be “The Energy Edition” and it is well and truly in the works!

As we embark upon this journey, I can’t help but reflect on the intellectual powerhouses that have come before. Last year’s Austrian Edition saw profound insights from Saifedean, Goldstein, Pierre, Rahim, and Konrad Graf, while previous year’s editions expanded the minds of our readers with the brilliance of Jimmy Song, Giacomo Zucco, Parker Lewis, Robert Breedlove, Jeff Booth, and many more.

In this year’s edition, we’re going to be exploring what might perhaps be regarded as “the base layer of civilization,” or in fact the base layer of life itself. We’re doing it in part because people have asked for it, but also in response to the persistent energy FUD we’re seeing so much of these days.

The energy edition will be six pieces looking at Bitcoin through the lens of energy, and energy through the lens of Bitcoin. To deliver genuinely fresh, nuanced and insightful takes on these perspectives, we’ve lined up another absolutely stellar group of writers and thinkers. The brilliant Marty Bent of TFTC, Ten31 and many other projects, will headline alongside Drew Armstrong from Cathedra, Harry Sudock of Griid, Brian Gitt, one of the few voices of reason on the West Coast and Gideon Powell, the CEO of Cholla group of companies and one of the world’s foremost warriors for energy abundance.

This edition won’t be some run of the mill essays regurgitating what’s been said or written before about Bitcoin’s now-mostly-obvious relationship to energy. One of the key mandates I set for the writers when I first reached out was to give me a fresh take or an under-represented perspective on Bitcoin and Energy. What are few people talking about? What are we missing? What is still misunderstood?

This and more will be tackled in this edition.In fact - Gideon has made a very unique request for his piece, which I’ll explain further below - but suffice to say that it’s a very “Bitcoiner” approach to tackling these questions, doubts, perspectives and nuances. Read on for more.

Why Energy?

From the fire we harnessed to cook our food and light our ancient cities, to the steam that ignited our industrial revolution to the electricity coursing through our modern digital landscape, each milestone in our shared prosperity is testament to our evolving mastery over energy. Indeed, energy is the fundamental lifeblood that powers not only human progress and forms the foundational bedrock of our society, but as Vaclav Smil said, is the “Universal Currency”. Energy animates everything. We know what it is insofar as we must use it, measure it and interact with it, but it’s an enigma that will forever elude our full comprehension because of how absolutely fundamental and all-pervading it is.

Despite this, Energy is facing a barrage of criticism and misguided attacks by people and organizations around the world ignorant and arrogant enough to think that it is somehow scarce. This couldn’t be further from the truth, because the reality is that Energy is all there is. The scarcity of energy is merely a reflection on our ability, or lack thereof, to extract, harness or use it. We must transcend this limiting view of life and energy, and it is in this context that the dialogue around Bitcoin’s energy consumption takes on heightened significance. It is crucial that we confront and debunk the climate alarmists and detractors who threaten our collective flourishing by understanding and articulating Energy through a new lens, and we can do this by exploring the role of Bitcoin in the broader energy landscape.

Bitcoin serves as a unique participant in this narrative of human progress. It is more than just superior monetary technology - it is a network that transforms thermodynamic energy into a unique form of monetary energy. This ‘energy battery’ function as Michael Saylor calls it, has profound implications to transform regions of the world that have an abundance of energy but lack the infrastructure to make use of it. Bitcoin mining provides an avenue to convert this otherwise wasted energy into a universally recognized store of value.

Furthermore, Bitcoin’s energy dynamics open pathways to increased community autonomy. With Bitcoin, localities with excess energy production can convert their surplus into Bitcoin, asserting control over their energy resources and potentially insulating themselves from broader grid instabilities or manipulations. This not only fosters local economic resilience but also aligns with the ethos of decentralization that Bitcoin represents.

Bitcoin is a remarkable synthesis of the physical and digital. It embodies the conversion of tangible, thermodynamic energy into intangible, monetary energy - energy that is free from geographical or physical constraints and can be transported across the globe in an instant.

A call to contribute

Echoing the audacious spirit of Bitcoin, we’re partnering with Cholla Inc for this year’s edition. This Texas-based family-owned oil & gas firm embodies the wildcatter spirit of the modern day, never shying away from challenging the status quo and fearlessly venturing into new frontiers of value creation. They aren’t mere spectators in the Bitcoin arena but spirited explorers, carving out paths at the intriguing intersection of Bitcoin and energy. Together, we stand ready to spotlight and delve into the innovative insights defining this fascinating confluence.

Gideon Powell, the captain of this ship, has asked us to do something unique in this year’s edition of The Bitcoin Times. In true Bitcoiner spirit, he wants to shine the spotlight on the work of Bitcoiners who may not be very well known, but are doing “God’s work” for Bitcoin and energy. He’s asked that we find a maximum of FOUR insightful minds to help co-write and collaborate on writing and producing his dedicated piece, illuminating the profound interconnection between Bitcoin and Energy.

So if you’re someone living at the nexus of Bitcoin and energy, armed with a unique perspective and the ability to weave that into compelling words and novel ideas, we want to hear from you, and if you know of anyone that fits the bill, please forward this email to them, or send them the above link.

You can also help us amplify the call and boost our search for contributors by liking and RT’ing this tweet:

https://twitter.com/TimelessBitcoin/status/1679570715190738944?s=20

Remember, The Bitcoin Times is more than just another Bitcoin publication—it’s a beacon of thought, a collectible piece of Bitcoin history, limited to just 2100 prints each year. It’s about novel ideas, new perspectives, and is forming a body of work that people will pass down for decades to come.

Stay tuned as we drip feed updates on this year’s edition in the coming weeks. Also, if you’ve not yet got a copy of the prior editions of The Bitcoin Times, or you’d like to pick up some copies as a gift, use the following code: ENERGY, to get a ONE-TIME 20% off any purchase. That’s up to 180k Sats off the 3-pack.

This code will only be active for 7 days, or the first 10 purchases - whichever comes first.

See you in the next update!

Aleksandar Svetski

Founder, The Bitcoin Times