The Kenya VASP bill is poor execution on a bad idea. It’s a gift to rent seekers and a blow to innovation that punishes startups with red tape. Loose definitions of virtual “assets” and “tokens” increase uncertainty and allows regulatory overreach. They’d be better off just defining bitcoin vs other cryptocurrencies as commodity vs securities and letting the already existing Capital Markets Authority deal with it. PDF of the bill: http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2025-04/THE%20VIRTUAL%20ASSET%20SERVICE%20PROVIDERS%20BILL%2C%202025%20%282%29.pdf

Adults need self control. Powerful adults need it more.

Doing a Bitaxe giveaway at our monthly bitcoin meetup this evening at Waitabit Coffee.

Rose Njeri, a 35 year old software engineer and mother of two, was picked up and held by police for 5 days in Kenya. Why? Because she created a site to allow people to easily write an email to their representatives - pushing back on the new Finance Bill 2025. Back in 2016-2018 we spoke about how bad this “Computer misuse and cybercrimes act of 2018” was for Kenyans, and that it would be used for spurious charges like this against people just like Rose Njeri. This is wrong and we need to both push back on new bills as well as change old ones.

This is more like it. Sun today.

Off to Oslo.

If you’re in Vegas next week for the Bitcoin conference, my co-founder @Janet Maingi will be there as well. Ask her about our expansion.

Pizza 🍕 incoming.

In Bitcoin mining, survival comes down to margins and margins come down to energy costs. While most miners race to secure ever-cheaper electricity contracts, Gridless takes a different route: we mine exclusively on stranded power, using a revenue share model that eliminates direct energy costs entirely. This gives us a structural advantage in volatile markets, allowing us to stay online when others shut down, and to profit even at historically low hashprices.

Gridless

Mining Without a Bill: The Revenue Share Advantage

In Bitcoin mining, survival comes down to margins — and margins come down to energy costs.

Getting water flow readings. We don’t always have a bridge to work from!

Sundowners. Mt Kenya.

Worldcoin issues in Kenya. The problem is this is a data technicality so with the right paperwork they can overcome it.

Hosting an MBA group from the University of North Carolina today at Gridless. Love having Anil Patel’s (https://anilsaidso.gumroad.com/) slides and assets to talk through what Bitcoin is.

Bedford. Really do enjoy visiting this town.

Really enjoy being back in Bedford, @Peter McCormack and @Danny Knowles do such a great job with the Cheatcode conference. Small towns make for easier and more conversations, and one-day events mean a lot more signal. Also, great new coffee shop and wonderful people.

Impressive to see the launch of the Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance after years of hard work by @gladstein and and HRF! Bitcoin operates outside the control of governments, banks, and corporations. This means humanitarian organizations can raise funds, move money across borders, and bypass financial repression. At the Frontline Club in London.

Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance

Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance

The Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance is a coalition of human rights defenders, pro-democracy movements, and humanitarian organizations using Bitcoin t...

“Two very large pools are creating more than 50% of the blocks” @alejandro de la torre 🤙 on why he started DMND pool based on Stratum V2.

One of my takeaways from Bitcoiners working on energy-related projects in the EU is that they seem bound and hamstrung by rules and bureaucracy. Seems harder than it should be. It’s like a full-time job in paperwork with a bit of mining on the side. The people at the European Bitcoin Energy Association (EBEA) are doing great work, and when they finally break through there will be a massive growth in decentralized hashing for heat+BTC in Europe.

Portugal 🇵🇹 for a couple days. Then to the UK 🇬🇧.

Minion 3 learning how to replace hashboards.