To the leaders of the People’s Republic of China:
In relation to your recent request for public opinion regarding digital currency mining, there are indeed several points that we feel you’ve missed, and it is our pleasure to help bring you up to speed.
Above all, Bitcoin is a decentralized network that allows for the ownership and transmission of value cheaply and efficiently across borders without the need of any middleman. In addition to being borderless, it is also unconfiscatable and-censorship resistant.
The mining of Bitcoin allows organizations and nation-states to capitalize on their excess energy reserves, particularly plants that are remote and have energy that cannot easily be transported elsewhere and would otherwise go to waste.
However, you already knew all of this. The PBOC was among the first institutions in the world to research Bitcoin in 2014, and Chinese companies have literally earned millions of units of bitcoin in block rewards until your recent ban.
Our recommendation: stay away!
It is often said that the disappearance of Satoshi Nakamoto was the greatest thing that ever happened to Bitcoin. The moment China banned Bitcoin mining is clearly a close second.
The centralization of mining pools in the remote regions of China, and particularly in the places where human rights violations are ostensibly rampant, was in fact a huge concern for users like myself, who would prefer that their transaction fees not be used to support slavery.
Now that mining is no longer done in China, this is no longer an issue for us.
For people in China, the ban may make it a bit more difficult for them to access the network.
However, in a country that frequently makes people disappear for no apparent reason, or jails them for either posting the wrong things on social media or downloading non-approved apps on their phone, we don’t believe that making Bitcoin illegal will be a major deterrent for them.
Authoritarian governments like yours are the reason Bitcoin was created, and the fact that you attempted to shut it down only illustrates to have Bitcoin in the first place.
If you are indeed looking to improve your society, we can of course make many recommendations.
However, if you’re looking to exploit our network of freedom as you do your own citizens, we strongly recommend that you stay away.
Key contact info
The above open letter was sent today to cys@ndrc.gov.cn, the email provided by the Chinese government in accordance with their request for public opinion related to digital currency mining.
If you are considering writing something similar, you may want to send it in using an anonymous email.
