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Wow!!

I know. 🥹

🔥🔥🔥

This week, I attended the FT Digital Assets Summit, and while the focus was largely on 'crypto', Bitcoin kept finding its way back into the conversation.

Economic Secretary Emma Reynolds ruled out the idea of a UK national Bitcoin reserve during the Summit in London, stating it's "not appropriate for our market." She added, “We understand that’s what the U.S. is going for, but that’s not the plan for us.”

A disappointing (if predictable) stance, especially as more forward-thinking jurisdictions begin to explore the benefits of holding Bitcoin at a national level.

I was on the "Building Trust – Risk Management and Compliance Strategies" panel, which turned out to be far more engaging than the title suggests. Some of the panellists claimed regulators were listening to companies and doing a good job, which was jaw dropping to say the least.

Richard Byworth from Syz Capital nailed it on his panel about institutional adoption. He kept steering the conversation back to Bitcoin and summed it up perfectly when he said:

"Regulators are not doing their job".

Despite the out-of-touch comments from the Economic Secretary and some questionable optimism from industry, there were some encouraging moments. Lord Chris Holmes, who has previously leaned hard into CBDCS and digital ID, commented positively about Bitcoin. A sign that there are some in the House of Lords beginning to grasp its economic potential.

The summit may not have been Bitcoin focused, but Bitcoin had a presence, and momentum is building, even if the policymakers lag behind and companies leave in their droves.

I occasionally get paid in Bitcoin and usually need to spend it on bills soon after, so I’ve been looking for a simple, secure way to accept payments that’s easy to manage and simple enough to track for accounting. I tried out Bitkey today and here’s how it went:

Bitkey is a relatively new self-custody wallet from Block (Jack Dorsey’s team), launched in late 2023. It combines a mobile app with a compact hardware device and uses a 2 of 3 multisig security model.

Setup:

Honestly? Really smooth.

The app is clean and intuitive, and the device feels sturdy and well-designed. Setup took minutes, with no complex steps or confusing jargon. Perfect for newbies.

Not your typical wallet:

Bitkey doesn’t use a traditional 12 or 24 word seed phrase. Instead, it encrypts your mobile key and backs it up to your cloud (iCloud or Google Drive). Recovery works through a combination of your phone, the Bitkey device, and Bitkey’s support key. That means you still have fallback options if something goes wrong without needing to manage or write down a seed phrase.

There’s no built-in option to export a seed phrase through the app, though it is technically possible using more advanced methods. This is intentionally hidden for most users to keep things simple and reduce risk.

It also includes an emergency access feature that lets you assign a trusted contact who can help recover your bitcoin if something happens to you, using the inheritance option built into the system.

It works through a mix of your phone, the device, and their support key. That means you still have fallback options if something goes wrong.

Bitkey isn’t built for hardcore Bitcoin purists or users who want full manual control over privacy, such as coin control, Tor routing, or avoiding cloud backup.

So it’s not aimed at toxic maxis or privacy maximalists, but that is kind of the point.

Pros:

- Fast, beginner-friendly setup

- Secure enough for regular use

- Easy to track payments

- Built-in Inheritance feature with contact-based recovery

- No seed phrase stress

Considerations:

- You don’t hold all the keys yourself

- Depends on cloud backup and Bitkey support for recovery

- Not as battle-tested as some other wallets

- You’ll need an on/off-ramp to convert your bitcoin, which may introduce KYC, though peer-to-peer options like Hodl Hodl can help you avoid it.

- BitKey does not yet support Lightening so you can only send on-chain

Summary:

If you want a wallet for everyday use, whether receiving Bitcoin payments, making occasional transactions, or simply holding small balances with peace of mind, Bitkey is a great option. It’s user-friendly, secure, and designed for people who want a practical way to interact with Bitcoin without diving into technical complexity.

Just be aware of the trade-offs. It won’t suit everyone, but for many real-world use cases, it ticks a lot of boxes. I love it!

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In many parts of the world, people are cut off from their money, censored for speaking out, or locked out of the financial system entirely.

Bitcoin is acting as a lifeline.

It provides uncensorable, borderless money for those living under authoritarian regimes, facing runaway inflation, or fighting for basic freedoms.

Events like this remind us that Bitcoin’s real power lies beyond price. It is helping people reclaim their financial and personal sovereignty when traditional systems fail.

Thank you to HRF for making the Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance event possible, and to nostr:nprofile1qqsrcdwnt8z6k60gy2cn3slq3yj6kfnl767nzxx6ya8fep5wx4h22scpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqpzamhxue69uhkv6tvw3jhytnwdaehgu3wwa5kuegm90c4j for the excellent write-up.

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Bitcoin was born as freedom money. Decentralised, borderless, and immune to state control. But is that ideal being flipped on its head?

Are a growing number of institutional players backed by governments inflating Bitcoin’s value not as a currency of the people but as a Strategic Reserve Asset to prop up the very system it was built to escape?

Is the goal to create artificial demand for U.S. dollars and treasuries through stablecoins backed by U.S. debt? Stablecoins are lifelines for many, but what is the real cost?

Will certain stablecoins become some of the largest holders of U.S. treasuries, indirectly funding U.S. policy while serving as the gateway to Bitcoin? By linking Bitcoin to stablecoins and those stablecoins to U.S. treasuries...has a pipeline been created to inflate Bitcoin, attract capital, prop up dollar demand, and sell more debt?

Is it ironic that the asset created to resist fiat is now being used to save it?

On the day Trump was inaugurated, I published this article. Centralisation is a threat. Are we paying close enough attention?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/01/20/is-trumps-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-a-threat-to-freedom/

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Yes!!

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The UK is falling behind. While global institutions embrace bitcoin, UK regulators remain trapped in a self-replicating bureaucracy and a web of quangos where no one has accountability.

Innovation is stalled, growth is flatlining, capital is flowing elsewhere, and game theory is already in motion.

Bitcoin is not waiting, and institutions are building the future of finance, just not in the UK.

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Bitcoin is helping keep the lights on through mini-grids in Africa.

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“This is the beauty of decentralised energy. Bitcoin can be the financial engine behind it.”

Another brilliant film by nostr:nprofile1qqs034ppyjnjakycjcj84kgj737aw6kxkmxazrlp0r67qjk0atgdfgspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhszythwden5te0dehhxarj9emkjmn99usy20wr uncovering the real impact of Bitcoin on the ground.

https://youtu.be/J2K1fgVyh5Y?si=VtZAKc9U_t7QUPxi

A rare, well-researched positive article on Bitcoin by the BBC and it’s a good one.

It covers:

- Real-world impact in rural Africa

- Wasted renewable energy put to use

- Economic boost via electricity access

- Profitable and sustainable model by Gridless

- Ambitious plans to expand clean energy powered by Bitcoin

More of this, please BBC.

https://t.co/v3MsUfoi7X

UK regulators are driving bitcoin businesses away while other countries capitalise on the opportunity. The FCA’s blanket cryptoasset policy is crushing innovation, stifling growth, pushing companies offshore, and making the UK increasingly hostile to bitcoin businesses.

Companies are scaling back or leaving the UK due to restrictive and unclear regulations. Meanwhile, the US, UAE, and Singapore are actively attracting bitcoin investment.

Bitcoin is not a meme coin. It is the future of finance.

If this continues, the UK will lose its financial edge and risk global irrelevance as investment moves elsewhere.

My latest Forbes piece.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/03/18/uk-financial-conduct-authority-drives-out-business-and-hurts-consumers/

Still makes me laugh. 🤣🤣🤣

One of my favorite film monologues is Hunter S. Thompson's Wave Speech from 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.

"San Francisco in the mid-'60s… a sense we were winning… riding a high and beautiful wave."

In 1970, Nixon outlawed psychedelics and shut down research, silencing a movement that questioned authority and sought higher consciousness.

In 1971, he took the United States off the gold standard, unleashing unchecked government spending.

Two moves that severed us from energy, both inner and economic, halting human progress in exchange for control.

The wave did not recede naturally, it was forced back. Nixon's war on drugs was about suppressing dissent, not health. The end of the gold standard was more than economic policy; it enabled perpetual war and financial manipulation.

Thompson saw the sixties as a lost breakthrough, a moment when humanity stood at the edge of something better, only to be dragged back into the machine.

As he brilliantly wrote, that was the moment when the wave finally broke and rolled back.

https://m.primal.net/PaZd.mov