Bitcoin Policy UK

Bitcoin Policy UK are delighted to announce that Susie Violet Ward, a founding member of BPUK, has been appointed as our new CEO. Full press release below.

Bitcoin is often misunderstood, complex, polarising, and full of noise. At Bitcoin Policy UK, we believe better policy starts with better understanding. We’ve launched a new Learn section to explain Bitcoin simply: 
 • What it is
 • How it works
 • Why it matters Clear, accessible, and grounded in fundamentals. Start here:  bitcoinpolicy.uk/bitcoin-basics… @DecentraSuze @freddienew

Bitcoin mining is becoming a powerful driver of local economic development in energy rich regions. This panel will discuss how responsible mining operations can create jobs, support infrastructure, and generate real opportunities for surrounding communities. Mining Stewardship: Creating Value, Jobs, & Opportunities for Local Communities April 27, 2026 from 4:30pm - 5:00pm on the Energy Stage. Host: Susie Violet Ward Speakers: Harvey Blom - GRN Bi Curtis Harris - Compass Mining Megan Brooks-Anderson - Blockware See you there! @HarveyBlom @compass_mining @Blockware Full agenda: 2026.b.tc/agenda

This is exactly why so many of us oppose the huge data gathering exercise that will be any form of Digital ID, or age verification for social media, and so on. Time and again the government and public bodies demonstrate they cannot keep our data safe. The only way is not to gather it at all. h/t @tachitos21!

The next energy superpowers will emerge where power is cheapest and most overlooked. Bitcoin is monetising stranded and excess electricity, turning it into hard money and driving local growth across emerging markets. Bitcoin & The Rise of Emerging Market Energy Economies April 27, 2026 from 10:30am - 11:00am Host: Susie Violet Ward Speakers: Timo Steipe - Munich International Mining Alessandro Cecere - Luxor Daniel Jonsson - MGMT Digital Infrastructure See you there! @TimoThisis @elsultanbitcoin @dfjonsson Full agenda: 2026.b.tc/agenda

Heading to Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas next week hosting on the Energy Stage. From grid bureaucracy slowing energy progress … to Bitcoin monetising stranded energy and powering the rise of new energy superpowers in emerging markets. Bitcoin mining is creating hard money, jobs and real local growth. I’ll be hosting two killer panels on these topics. See you in Vegas Agenda below: 2026.b.tc/agenda

Bitcoin is actually the best form of money, but who's keeping track. Why peg your token to a currency that central and commercial banks can dilute and debase, where your transactions can be arbitrarily blocked, and where third parties can freeze your money? No thanks.

Today @TheFCA raided eight London sites in its first ever coordinated crackdown on peer to peer crypto trading. Enforcement has now moved onto ordinary individuals operating outside the regulated system. The UK is trying to position itself as a global centre for digital assets centred around stablecoins, tokenisation and institutional adoption. At the same time, the most direct form of decentralised exchange is being pushed into a legal grey area. Individuals trading with one another can find everyday activity interpreted as unlawful once it reaches meaningful scale. There are effectively no P2P traders registered under current AML rules. This creates a tension in UK policy where: - privacy is treated as opacity - self custody is viewed as risk - decentralised systems are judged against rules designed for intermediaries. When there is no realistic route to compliance, enforcement dictates behaviour by default, not by design. These same regulatory and data collection approaches are creating real physical security risks by linking identities to holdings and turning oversight into surveillance. The implications for safety, privacy and surveillance are unprecedented. These regulators will also have to live in the world they create... @BitcoinPolicyUK

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth… they control the minds of the masses.” - Malcolm X. We are told the @BBC is a trusted British institution, transparent, accountable and impartial. My 13 month battle to get a simple correction showed the opposite. Endless bureaucratic deflection, stonewalling and a flat refusal to engage with evidence or expert input. This is how narratives form and facts disappear. After years of scandals and blatant disinformation, is it finally time to #DefundTheBBC? This is the first time I have explained the full fiasco in this new podcast on @BitcoinArchive with Archie.

I really don't think anyone in @UKLabour realises there are more Bitcoin and crypto holders in the UK than trade union members. Just yesterday, we had comments like this in the House from @JanetDaby - for the record, the donation to which she refers was made in cash, not crypto (see BBC article below: "Mr Harborne's donation, which was made on 1 August, was not in cryptocurrency". Also, the nature of Bitcoin makes it easier to trace the source of funds, as I myself show in the flow below (I made a test donation of £5.00 and followed this on the public ledger). Perhaps any of Janet's constituents who hold Bitcoin could reach out to her, and encourage her to engage with @bitcoinpolicyuk to learn more? Or point her to the new 'Bitcoin Basics' educational sections on the Bitcoin Policy UK website.

The BBC pushed a fake Bitcoin story. When Susie @DecentraSuze exposed them, and requested documentation under Freedom of Information, they took cover. This is the true story of a 13-month campaign to get to the truth - why did the BBC lie? youtube.com/watch?v=x2M6gs…

Thank you @Ed_Miliband, your red tape and grid bureaucracy have actually done something right. You have made it easier, faster and make more business sense to mine Bitcoin rather than connect to the grid. A Yorkshire gas field that could supply over 10% of Britain’s annual demand is being positioned for early Bitcoin mining rather than immediate supply to the national grid. Reabold Resources plans a small on site gas fired power station using private gas to mine Bitcoin, generate early revenue and help fund further development of the field. Connecting to the grid is slow, costly and tied up in years of approvals, infrastructure build out and negotiations. Using the gas on site allows immediate monetisation from existing wells and creates early cash flow without waiting for the wider system to catch up. When the fastest and most viable route for a domestic energy resource is private on site use rather than supplying the grid, it becomes clear that Bitcoin isn’t the problem. This neatly exposes how misaligned UK energy policy, infrastructure and incentives have become. It’s amazing what businesses can do to stay profitable, even when the government tries to make it almost impossible. Full article: telegraph.co.uk/gift/f18a6bf32…

Centralising justice is bad enough, now Labour is pushing plans to take greater control over private pension pots and dictate where that capital flows. We need to separate money and state and seriously rethink the size and reach of government. History keeps showing what happens when politicians steer financial decisions for everyone else. - They incentivised diesel cars then pivoted and left owners exposed. - They launched Help to Buy and distorted the housing market. - They pushed green home insulation schemes then scrapped them after botched installations left homeowners with poor quality work and extra costs. - They also hike interest rates to control inflation which crushes demand and leaves families facing higher borrowing costs and real financial misery. Policy is made, policy reverses and individuals absorb the losses. More rules get layered on to fix the damage they caused. This latest move on pensions is not new, governments have been trying to direct capital for years. Now it is about funnelling pension money into UK infrastructure, private companies and growth projects. All framed as being in the national interest. The idea of pushing people into investments the government deems suitable is concerning, especially while UK retail remains restricted from easy access to a Bitcoin spot ETF. Every day brings another example of overreach or poor judgment. Moments like this make the case for Bitcoin even stronger. Full article: telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions…

Nominations close this week. Voting opens next week and runs through April 28 at the Bitcoin Conference. If someone in Bitcoin deserves to be recognized as a builder, educator, miner, leader, this is your last shot to put their name in. thesatosawards.com/newsroom/bitco… @efenigson @DecentraSuze @BTCsessions @PeterMcCormack @WalkerAmerica @carlabitcoin @Don_Tsell @heatherspurpose

Fun fact. The Bitcoin Business Network have a very similar amount of members as @CryptoUKAssoc We started 12 weeks ago in earnest. Major difference is that the business network is comprised mainly of day to day UK businesses who are allocating to Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset as well as some of the businesses accepting Bitcoin payments via the lightning network where this is relevant for the particular business. Bitcoin is roughly 60% of the total Crypto market cap yet in the UK has little in terms of voice aside from our friends at @bitcoinpolicyuk Bitcoin should be 60% of the conversation in every jurisdiction and it isn’t. We are changing that. A movement driven by normal businesses and normal business owners who prefer superior money. 5.8 million small and mid sized businesses in the UK is the addressable market for the network. Stay tuned.

I really hope this is poor or simplified wording from NatWest, because taken literally it raises serious questions under UK GDPR. Biometric data normally requires explicit consent and 'legitimate interests' on its own is not usually enough for identification or authentication. KYC is already done at onboarding, so what is being implied here? That identity checks are being pushed further into how accounts are used, potentially tied to limits like the £750 threshold? There is a clear trend of expanding 'legitimate interests' and pushing users into systems with limited opt out, where the practical effect starts to feel coercive even if it is legally structured. We already know KYC and AML create honeypots of sensitive data, increase physical security risks, and do little to prevent illicit activity, so what exactly is this solving? Set alongside moves to link payments to digital identity, and political shifts toward greater central control, including changes to the justice system, the direction of travel is concerning. Even Orwell didn’t predict this level of control. @NatWest_Help please can you confirm if this is simplified wording for customers, or the actual policy being implemented?

Great chat on @BitcoinArchive with Archie. Always love hanging out. A good friend of mine once said to me, “how do you operate in an adult world, you are so small?” …well, here’s the answer. Thanks to Charlie for finding me a footstool, aka a box.

2 weeks away from our biggest event yet! The first-ever live event from @fountain_app and Antidote is happening on Thursday 30th April | 19:30 A night of live music & DJs at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, streamed live on Fountain. Every ticket comes with £5 in Fountain credits so you can pay your favourite performer directly while they're on stage. 💸 📍 The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch Grab your tickets now: luma.com/ysna282n 🎟