Tales from the Crypt #26: Charles Hwang

— Teaching Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to college students at Baruch College, part of CUNY, with emphasis on business, regulatory, and legal aspects rather than purely technical depth.

— The importance of interdisciplinary knowledge (economics, game theory, law, technology) needed to understand cryptocurrency ecosystems and protocol changes.

— Bitcoin's energy consumption and mining incentives: miners naturally seek cheapest electricity, which often means renewable or wasted energy sources (flared natural gas in Texas), making mining more efficient than wasteful.

— Sound money principles and how Bitcoin could encourage long-term, wise investment decisions by raising the cost of capital allocation.

— Regulatory challenges: multiple U.S. agencies (SEC, CFTC, states) defining Bitcoin differently to regulate it; importance of light regulation and avoiding regulatory arbitrage that would push innovation offshore.

— Brain wallets and the remarkable ability to transport millions in value across borders with just memorized private keys; privacy misconceptions about Bitcoin (fully traceable, not anonymous).

— Understand the regulatory landscape: multiple agencies are fighting over how to classify Bitcoin (currency, commodity, security). Light regulation is preferable to capture; watch for regulatory clarity on taxation methods (FIFO vs. LIFO for crypto-to-crypto trades) and reporting requirements.

— Educate yourself on Bitcoin's actual energy footprint: miners use wasted or excess energy (flared gas, renewable overproduction) and will always pursue cheapest electricity, making the "environmental destruction" narrative misleading.

— Curate your information sources carefully: every journalist and content creator has bias; follow competing viewpoints, not just agreeable ones, and use Twitter lists to filter signal from noise rather than relying on mainstream media narratives.