@dsbatten
I like turning waste into power. Landfill gas. Eroding currencies. The human potential.
danielbatten.co
No relay list published yet.
Recent Notes
most critics attack a version of bitcoin that doesn't exist. they fixate on energy while ignoring the cost of verification. have you ever met a skeptic who actually bothered to run a node?
… bothered to find out what “difficulty adjustment meant” would be a good start!
It saddens me when people who experience imposter syndrome dont continue with their projects ... especially when they are cool Bitcoin projects.
This mindset shift I've found has helped a lot of Bitcoiners who were experiencing doubt to push through it
This mindset shift I've found has helped a lot of Bitcoiners who were experiencing doubt to push through it
FUD is the deliberate strategy of sewing Fear Uncertainty and Doubt in the minds of a potential adopter of an idea or technology in order to slow down or stall its adoption. It is a real tactic used across the centuries under different names, and it is very effective when you are the incumbent (for a time). It is also something I've encountered not once, but three times across three decades. Here's what it means for Bitcoin
My first FUD-experience in the 2000s. I was running a bioinformatics company. We had a disruptive product that made bioinformatics for the first time available to general molecular biologists. Our product was order-of-magnitude faster, better, easier-to-use and for 1/20 the cost.
Then the FUD started. As we reached out to new prospective customers, they'd already heard three things about our product Geneious ... from our competitors.
1. "You can't cite Geneious in academic publications"
2. "You can't export files from Geneious to other platforms"
3. "They are a small startup from NZ. If they fail (and most startups do), you'll have no support.
The third one was technically true, but highly misleading. The first two were objectively false. But they did the trick, they slowed down our adoption cycle a lot. Eventually, we won anyway and are now the defacto standard in all the world's Universities and most of the world's molecular biology research institutes, but they managed to hang on for 5 years longer than they would've without FUD
The second time was for a Telecommunications company I worked at very briefly after my second business (an abject failure) left me needing to take on a corporate job.
Our company was selling Telco solutions to large enterprise customers including ... blackberries, when the iPhone came in.
I never forget what the sales director said
"To stop our customers getting the iPhone we are doing to use FUD. Here are a list of messages we've prepared that'll slow down iPhone adoption and create doubt in their minds.
1. The iPhone has no security and exposes critical business data
2. The iPhone cannot interoperate with your other business systems and has no business support
3. The iPhone is a toy, suitable for creatives, not a serious business tool
Again, 1 & 2 were objectively false. 3. Had elements of truth at the time, but was highly misleading
I left the company.
The FUD bought that Blackberries another few years of life as a business tool, then they faded away.
The third time was Bitcoin.
1. It's a ponzi
2. It's terrible for the environment
3. It is used by criminals
Same pattern: Two objective falsehoods, and 3. a statement that is technically true, but highly misleading becuase Bitcoin illicit use is 0.14% (Chainalysis, 2025) whereas fiat currency money laundering misuse alone is 2-5% of all GDP (Official UN figures)
Same tactic. Same result.
Slower adoption.
The difference was, because the institutions disrupted by Bitcoin were and are more powerful and more numerous, so was the frequency, diversity, and the potency of the FUD. Full junk-science articles, reputable commentators speaking out and lobbying governments against Bitcoin, the full works.
Eventually each narrative dies is the media (the most recent being "Bad for the environment - the opposite is in fact true), only to give rise to a new piece of FUD.
Everyone who sees the value of Bitcoin should take heart in this for two reasons
1. FUD can only slow down the onset of adoption, not prevent it
2. The fact a competitor throws FUD your way is evidence your technology scares them at an existential level
3. It is a change to uplevel your levels of both communication and dispassion.
Buckle up, enjoy the FUD. One day you'll reminisce with your peers about your days in the trenches.
3rd time was Bitcoin "let them its bad for the environment" ... none true... easy to debunk ...
My first FUD-experience in the 2000s. I was running a bioinformatics company. We had a disruptive product that made bioinformatics for the first time available to general molecular biologists. Our product was order-of-magnitude faster, better, easier-to-use and for 1/20 the cost.
Then the FUD started. As we reached out to new prospective customers, they'd already heard three things about our product Geneious ... from our competitors.
1. "You can't cite Geneious in academic publications"
2. "You can't export files from Geneious to other platforms"
3. "They are a small startup from NZ. If they fail (and most startups do), you'll have no support.
The third one was technically true, but highly misleading. The first two were objectively false. But they did the trick, they slowed down our adoption cycle a lot. Eventually, we won anyway and are now the defacto standard in all the world's Universities and most of the world's molecular biology research institutes, but they managed to hang on for 5 years longer than they would've without FUD
The second time was for a Telecommunications company I worked at very briefly after my second business (an abject failure) left me needing to take on a corporate job.
Our company was selling Telco solutions to large enterprise customers including ... blackberries, when the iPhone came in.
I never forget what the sales director said
"To stop our customers getting the iPhone we are doing to use FUD. Here are a list of messages we've prepared that'll slow down iPhone adoption and create doubt in their minds.
1. The iPhone has no security and exposes critical business data
2. The iPhone cannot interoperate with your other business systems and has no business support
3. The iPhone is a toy, suitable for creatives, not a serious business tool
Again, 1 & 2 were objectively false. 3. Had elements of truth at the time, but was highly misleading
I left the company.
The FUD bought that Blackberries another few years of life as a business tool, then they faded away.
The third time was Bitcoin.
1. It's a ponzi
2. It's terrible for the environment
3. It is used by criminals
Same pattern: Two objective falsehoods, and 3. a statement that is technically true, but highly misleading becuase Bitcoin illicit use is 0.14% (Chainalysis, 2025) whereas fiat currency money laundering misuse alone is 2-5% of all GDP (Official UN figures)
Same tactic. Same result.
Slower adoption.
The difference was, because the institutions disrupted by Bitcoin were and are more powerful and more numerous, so was the frequency, diversity, and the potency of the FUD. Full junk-science articles, reputable commentators speaking out and lobbying governments against Bitcoin, the full works.
Eventually each narrative dies is the media (the most recent being "Bad for the environment - the opposite is in fact true), only to give rise to a new piece of FUD.
Everyone who sees the value of Bitcoin should take heart in this for two reasons
1. FUD can only slow down the onset of adoption, not prevent it
2. The fact a competitor throws FUD your way is evidence your technology scares them at an existential level
3. It is a change to uplevel your levels of both communication and dispassion.
Buckle up, enjoy the FUD. One day you'll reminisce with your peers about your days in the trenches.
3rd time was Bitcoin "let them its bad for the environment" ... none true... easy to debunk ...
Yet to find a single Bitcoiner who has not noticed this same effect.
One of the biggest environmental benefits of Bitcoin is how it reduces overconsumption.
One of the biggest environmental benefits of Bitcoin is how it reduces overconsumption.
2
3 things are important when you're building a Bitcoin mission!
The technical and business side is what gets the attention, but the third element, at least equally important, tends to be get neglected.
The technical and business side is what gets the attention, but the third element, at least equally important, tends to be get neglected.
It is my duty to remind you that Bitcion will use all the world's power by 2020.
3
The unexpected advice:
A decade ago, I invested a lot in getting my own coach - which one decade later has proven to be the first= best investment I'd ever made. You know what the other one is!
I'd run and exited a tech company and had discovered that my passion for for helping people as a coach myself, and had already started coaching a number of CEOs of other tech companies. When I started with my coach, I thought we'd be spending a lot of time on strategy and tactics, new ways to reach new clients etc.
Apart from 3-4 sessions, in three years we did almost none of that!
Instead he had a radical idea: focus on making me a great coach! By doing that, something funny happened, my coaching business doubled in size during the time I was receiving coaching from him.
It was obvious in hindsight. Yet how often do we forgo the obvious and go for the result we want. It's the old adage "everyone wants to be able to say 'I climbed Everest' but no-one wants to put in the work to become the person who can climb Everest. Similarly so many people want to run a successful company, but few put in the effort to become the leader who can run a successful company.
Yes, being able to convey the value of what you do is important. That is the multiplier But having something of immense value - be it a product or service comes first. Otherwise you are multiplying a small number.
These days, even when I'm helping clients win pitches, the process of pitch coaching usually ends up pointing to gaps in the tech-CEOs offering/product/partnerships that need to be address.
I always ask the question "What is the pitch you'd like to be able to give that isn't true yet" - then we reverse-engineer by picking up the things that are not true yet, and see how we can make them happen.
The best way to generate more clients is to first become a better coach. And the best way to win a pitch is starts with building something worth pitching.
A decade ago, I invested a lot in getting my own coach - which one decade later has proven to be the first= best investment I'd ever made. You know what the other one is!
I'd run and exited a tech company and had discovered that my passion for for helping people as a coach myself, and had already started coaching a number of CEOs of other tech companies. When I started with my coach, I thought we'd be spending a lot of time on strategy and tactics, new ways to reach new clients etc.
Apart from 3-4 sessions, in three years we did almost none of that!
Instead he had a radical idea: focus on making me a great coach! By doing that, something funny happened, my coaching business doubled in size during the time I was receiving coaching from him.
It was obvious in hindsight. Yet how often do we forgo the obvious and go for the result we want. It's the old adage "everyone wants to be able to say 'I climbed Everest' but no-one wants to put in the work to become the person who can climb Everest. Similarly so many people want to run a successful company, but few put in the effort to become the leader who can run a successful company.
Yes, being able to convey the value of what you do is important. That is the multiplier But having something of immense value - be it a product or service comes first. Otherwise you are multiplying a small number.
These days, even when I'm helping clients win pitches, the process of pitch coaching usually ends up pointing to gaps in the tech-CEOs offering/product/partnerships that need to be address.
I always ask the question "What is the pitch you'd like to be able to give that isn't true yet" - then we reverse-engineer by picking up the things that are not true yet, and see how we can make them happen.
The best way to generate more clients is to first become a better coach. And the best way to win a pitch is starts with building something worth pitching.
