‘Patient zero’ of Bitcoin gaslighting was Digiconomist in 2018: ESG analyst

Bitcoin environmentalist Daniel Batten claims a “single commentary” in 2018 from Alex de Vries, the founder of Digiconomist, has been the cause of “all junk science on Bitcoin’s environmental impact” over the years. 

“We found patient zero,” Batten said in the Dec. 12 X thread.

While Batten didn’t point to the exact commentary, he has previously criticized a May 2018 report from de Vries titled “Bitcoin’s Growing Energy Problem.”

Digiconomist is a platform “dedicated to exposing the unintended consequences of digital trends.”

Batten said data from litmaps found that energy-related news reporting and other academic commentaries on Bitcoin frequently referred back to this metric, leading to “Bitcoin gaslighting in the mainstream media.”

“Much of the population was misinformed over many years, and as a result many investment committees, regulators and policymakers still do not know that 13 of the last 15 papers support the environmental benefits of Bitcoin.”

Digiconomist runs a “Bitcoin Electronic Waste Monitor” that states Bitcoin has produced 40.97 kilotonnes of electronic waste over the last 12 months, coming out to 230.10 grams per transaction.

However, Batten, a climate tech venture capitalist who has been focused on debunking Bitcoin FUD, believes the energy use per transaction metric is “fundamentally flawed.”

“Bitcoin energy use does not come from its transactions, therefore it can scale transaction volume exponentially without increasing emissions.” 

Batten said the method used by de Vries has now been debunked in several academic journals published on the likes of ResearchGate, ScienceDirect and Nature.

“That’s why 96% of mainstream media outlets […] are no longer gaslighting Bitcoin’s environmental impact.”

Many of these outlets have started covering Bitcoin’s environmental benefits, Batten said, pointing to the likes of Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Forbes and the Financial Times in a Dec. 12 X post.

Despite the progress, Batten stresses there is still so “much re-education work to do” before there will be mainstream adoption of “Bitcoin mining as part of climate action.”

Cointelegraph reached out to de Vries but didn’t receive an immediate response.

Related: Why tech giants like Amazon may hesitate to adopt Bitcoin

Around 54.5% of Bitcoin mining activities come from sustainable resources, according to the Bitcoin ESG Forecast.

Mainstream media started to increasingly criticize Bitcoin’s energy consumption around the time Digiconomist started reporting on Bitcoin in 2018.

For example, the Washington Post referred to Bitcoin as an “energy glutton” —  something that uses excessive or greedy indulgence — that could harm Earth’s climate in an October 2018 report.

“It could catapult the planet to dangerous levels of warming if it continues its rapid growth,” The Washington Post said, citing “new research” without disclosing the source.

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