Glad you could see the “you haven’t read the thesis!” nonsense argument coming a mile off. It’s pathetic, shallow, and shows Lowery is more about engagement farming and self-promotion than actual ideas. Disappointing to see so many Bitcoiners fall for it and come to his defence with the same garbage line of reasoning.

I’m not merely sceptical of his claims “that it's desirable for governments to participate in bitcoin mining” as you are, and I disagree that his background shouldn’t lead to dismissal for the following reasons.

Bitcoin was conceived to separate money and state. Specifically in the backdrop of the 08 GFC which was instigated by the US financial sector in cahoots with the US Government which had worldwide impacts because of the USD’s role as global reserve since Bretton Woods. Therefore it’s fair to say Bitcoin was targeted to destroy the USD hegemony.

Lowery’s background working for the US Armed Forces lead him to his worldview and thus conclusions. Saifedean would never have come up with these arguments with his background, nor would Knut for example - you can’t disentangle things like you’ve tried to and fair enough if you don’t like that it turns ad hominem, but his background is why **he** is apparently advising The White House and saying other branches of US Gov aren’t capable of dealing with Bitcoin, and not some crypto anarchists.

So his background is fair game in my opinion, particularly when he’s then advocating for US Gov involvement in mining.

The system was setup to get away from the USD and thus the US Gov & Armed Forces which his whole power projection point is about - the USD only holds its position today due to that force projection.

Bitcoiners should entirely oppose US Gov involvement for this reason - that’s the final boss. That’s who we seek to defeat through hyperbitcoinisation.

We can argue the merits of Bhutan mining Bitcoin or El Salvador, there are real world practicalities Bitcoiners need to accept (we have to live somewhere, some friendly jurisdictions is good) in that case.

However we must outright reject the US Gov’s involvement and he’s only making the case because of his job and background.

Glad you took the time to write it up and I’m heartened by reading all the comments here versus on Twitter. You got some well earned Sats here and some actual thoughtful replies, Twitter proves once again to be useful at disseminating the message initially and falls entirely flat in having a two-way dialogue.