Author: Sal Bayat

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IORADIO #6 – Is Texas a Crypto Welfare State? – Interview with Jackie Sawicky of the Texas Coalition Against Crypto Mining

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Is Texas a crypto welfare state? We often hear that the crypto mining industry is good for the economy and the energy business. In IO Radio #5 we reacted to a propaganda video claiming that Riot and other crypto miners were good for Texas, but what do local citizens think?

American Scream and I talk to Jackie Sawicky – founder of the Texas Coalition Against Crypto Mining – her organization has boots on the ground in Navarro county and is trying to educate people about the lies and misinformation being spread about mining facilities being built and operated in Texas.

What’s at stake when a mining operation moves next door? According to Jackie it’s much more than you think. Communities are being exploited and people’s lives are are put at risk while municipalities give away electricity to private corporations who sell it back to the public at a huge profit.

Listen to the shocking story of what’s happened to the small rural Texas communities who’ve had bitcoin mining come to their front door, and ask yourself if government should be in the business of subsidizing the crypto industry.

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IORADIO #5 – We React To “Dear Elizabeth Warren” – A Bitcoin Propaganda Film

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There appears to be a sizable amount of resources being pumped into producing these pro-Bitcoin propaganda films. This one was released recently, making some serious claims about Senator Elizabeth Warren and whether Bitcoin is in fact good for energy production instead of being criminally wasteful.

Now you can see both sides as we react to this new video. My apologies if the audio levels are a bit wonky on this – I made some mistakes during the recording and hopefully fixed them as best I could (and will do better for future episodes).

Additional details:

Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index – https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci

Petition opposing Bitcoin Mining by the Concerned Citizens of Navarro County – https://www.change.org/p/no-to-riot-bitcoin-mine-in-navarro-county.

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IORADIO #4: The Filecoin Controversy (with Kevin Mauro)

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An odd post on the /r/Buttcoin subreddit led us to look into FileCoin and the man making serious allegations about the file storage crypto project. We talk to Kevin Mauro, creator of the website dukedupe.com, to find out why he’s willing to go so far as to drive a van around Duke University to call attention to their endowment’s supposed connection to FileCoin. Is crypto incentivizing the distribution of harmful, illegal, & exploitative material online or are innovative technologies being criticized based on speculation & circumstantial evidence?