Bad research drives harmful Bitcoin policies
Speakers at the Bitcoin Amsterdam 2024 conference highlighted the serious consequences of misinformation in academic research on Bitcoin.
During the conference's two-day “Beyond Affordability” panel, speakers said that academic errors are contributing to government policies and harmful regulations by misleading and misleading the media.
Bitcoin (BTC) advocates have detailed how studies of BTC emissions and mining operations have fueled misguided narratives in journalism and policymaking.
Panel Discussion Beyond Protest Money. Source: Bitcoin Amsterdam 2024
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Wrong academia, wrong public perception
One important issue discussed was the role of flawed academic research in spreading misinformation about Bitcoin.
Andrew Bailey, a Yale-NUS College professor and senior fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, highlighted a specific issue in an influential academic paper that inaccurately reported BTC emission data. And so he said.
“I'm afraid the problem is academics. And the things they say about Bitcoin that are wrong or even hurtful […] Academics are wrong about Bitcoin, but nobody reads this stuff. right? right?”
Bailey pointed out that the paper contained an uncorrected “class error in the chart” despite continuing to cite the facts. He emphasized that such mistakes can have a lasting impact on the public's perception of Bitcoin.
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Journalism is a speaker for misinformation
Bradley Retler, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Wyoming, added that journalists often don't have the time to check or thoroughly understand academic sources, so they spread these errors.
According to Retler, the reliance of journalists on academic papers, who may lack the ability to be subject matter experts, contributes to the problem:
“So the journalists read these academic papers and translate them into everyday language, and the problem is that when they start with nonsense, they end up disturbing you.”
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Harmful rules built on misinformation
Bitcoin Policy Institute member Craig Warmke warns that misinformation has real-world implications, particularly for policymaking:
“Policymakers and regulators don't have time to read these academic papers, so they read journalism and this has led to some attacks on BTC mining, self-governance and financial privacy.”
Warmke says this practice has resulted in restrictive legislation “especially in Sweden to drive the BTC mining industry out of existence.”
He also said, “Software developers working on technologies that promote financial privacy are under attack.”
“These are serious issues. The problem has bled… Journalism and policy making and law enforcement and regulators and bad research on BTC and academia are largely to blame and so is the lack of research. “
While academia has historically worked on Bitcoin, Warmke suggested that now is the time for academics to start supporting the cryptocurrency.
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