"Most people still think that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, that it's some kind of Ponzi scheme and that it’s used by criminals. You know, none of these are true and that can all be verified by data." | Image credit: CCN
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As institutional adoption grows and governments refine digital asset rules, Bitcoin is entering a new phase.
In the UK, that shift is colliding with long-running questions around media narratives, access, regulation, privacy, and financial innovation.
In an interview with CCN, Bitcoin Policy UK CEO Susie Violet Ward said the country still misunderstands Bitcoin at a basic level. In her view, that gap affects everything from media coverage to market access and public policy.
Ward argued that Bitcoin should not be treated as just another crypto asset.
She said policymakers, regulators, and journalists need to understand its distinct structure, use cases, and long-term relevance if the U.K. wants to stay competitive.
A personal turning point shaped Ward’s view of money
Ward said her thinking about Bitcoin was shaped long before she entered the policy debate.
“So it’s interesting you asked me this question today because a couple of days ago I actually put out a post about this very thing because for me it was a trip to Malawi in 1994 when I was 14 years old.”
That visit left a lasting impression on how money, power, and government affect everyday life.
“It’s when you see people living in a fragile money system where inflation and capital controls shape their everyday life and you realize how much power sits inside the structure of money.”
Ward said the contrast between wealth at the government level and hardship among ordinary people stayed with her for years.
“What I did see when I was in Malawi was the disparity between governments and the people, how rich the governments were, how poor the people were, how they were suffering and how governments did not look after their people.”
She said that experience later helped her understand Bitcoin more quickly than she otherwise might have.
Why Bitcoin Still Gets Misunderstood
Ward said public debate around Bitcoin remains dominated by claims that do not hold up under closer review.
“So most people still think that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, that it’s some kind of Ponzi scheme and that it’s used by criminals. You know, none of these are true and that can all be verified by data.”
She described Bitcoin as a global monetary network with specific important characteristics.
“So obviously it’s a digital form of money with absolute scarcity and transparent monetary policy. It’s a global network that anybody can participate in that has never been hacked; the value of it is huge.”
Ward believes another major source of misunderstanding stems from how energy use is discussed. Critics often present Bitcoin’s energy demand as proof of waste. She sees it differently.
“A lot of people talk about the energy consumption that Bitcoin uses as if it’s a negative thing through the proof-of-work (POW) mechanism. But what this does is it connects money back to energy.”
For Ward, the bigger issue is not energy use in itself, but whether people understand how the network works and what role mining can play in power systems.
Stranded Power, Grid Balance, and Common Misconceptions
Energy criticism often overlooks how Bitcoin mining actually operates. Ward argued that many assessments fail to account for where mining activity takes place and the type of energy it relies on.
“So what Bitcoin miners do is they go and they look for cheap and stranded energy. So they’re always on the edges. So they don’t take from the main grid. They actually help to balance the grid in a lot of ways, especially when renewables are intermittent.”
She pointed to curtailment in the UK as one example of wasted energy that could be better used.
“I mean, for example, in the UK, we spend a billion pounds in curtailment, which is a billion pounds to switch off to stop producing energy. Bitcoin mining can come in, soak up that excess energy, create another revenue stream, and actually provide a valuable service for demand response for our electricity grids.”
Ward linked ongoing criticism to a deeper skepticism about Bitcoin’s purpose and relevance.
“Because one, they don’t see the value in Bitcoin. So they think that any energy that’s used on Bitcoin is a waste because they don’t see the value of the network as a whole.”
She added that misunderstanding leads many commentators to stop short of asking what Bitcoin mining can actually solve.
BBC Complaint Highlights Media’s Bitcoin Problem
Ward has also challenged the way mainstream media reports on Bitcoin.
“So the BBC wrote an article, I think it was November 2023, every Bitcoin payment uses a swimming pool’s worth of water.”
She said the headline was obviously wrong to anyone familiar with how Bitcoin payments and mining operate, and that a deeper review exposed weak sourcing and poor verification.
“In fact, the person who was the source of it was a discredited Dutch central banker. So not only did they trust a discredited source, but they didn’t actually verify the data within the article.”
Ward said misleading reporting spreads quickly once a major outlet publishes it.
“And then what happens there is that it gets published by the BBC and then replicated across all these different news outlets.”
She described this as a classic case of ‘Brandolini’s law,’ where false claims spread faster than experts can correct them.
For Ward, the problem is not that journalists write critically about Bitcoin. The issue is whether they understand the subject well enough to report it accurately.
“Most of these journalists are writers and that’s fine, but it just means that they’re not going to understand it in the same depth as somebody who has come at it from the same angle that I have.”
That said, she also said some coverage has improved.
“There is more balance, yes.”
Ward credited later reporting that looked at real-world Bitcoin mining use cases in Africa, including projects that combine local electricity access with mining revenues.
The saga of your perseverance in the face of total institutional disregard is seriously freaking inspiring. It’s a proof-of-work. No wonder the BBC wants to stonewall you. They rely on proof of stake (their reputation… not the truth).
As Bitcoin becomes more tied to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), custody services, and derivatives markets, Ward said the decentralization debate is becoming more urgent.
“So I do have concerns around the decentralization, not just because of institutions.”
She said concentration in mining pools, hardware supply chains, and geography all deserve attention.
“Mining pools, a huge concern. think four of the main mining pools make up about 83 % and two of the main mining pools over 50%. That’s a concern.”
She also pointed to China’s role in hardware manufacturing and the United States’ large share of global hash rate.
When it comes to institutions, Ward said their arrival was always likely. Still, she warned that Bitcoin exposure through financial products is not the same as owning Bitcoin directly.
“The thing is, I want people to remember that there are no right or wrong answers necessarily, but what makes Bitcoin special is the fact that you can keep it in your own self-custody.”
She linked self-custody to freedom in extreme situations, including political persecution and financial repression.
“I’ve interviewed people who have had to leave very quickly when they’ve been put on a wanted list for their government because they’ve been speaking out about corruption, they’ve been financially repressed, debanked and what allowed them to flee the country and go and seek asylum elsewhere was having Bitcoin.”
That use case, she said, disappears if exposure sits inside a traditional investment wrapper.
“You can’t do that if it’s in an ETF.”
Ward said financial engineering around Bitcoin also raises concerns because traditional finance is rebuilding familiar structures around an asset designed to reduce reliance on intermediaries.
“It’s traditional finance rebuilding its own structures around Bitcoin.”
Self-Custody and Leverage Matter More Than Headlines
When asked what signals show whether the Bitcoin market is becoming healthier or more fragile, Ward focused on two factors: self-custody and leverage.
“So firstly, I would say self-custody. If people are withdrawing Bitcoin from exchanges and holding it themselves, that’s usually a really healthy sign that the ecosystem and the network are being used as they were designed.”
The second signal is synthetic exposure, building faster than real ownership.
“Second is obviously leverage. So when you see large volumes of synthetic exposure building in derivatives markets relative to kind of the real on-chain activity. That’s usually a sign that the market’s becoming a bit more fragile.”
Ward summed up the distinction clearly.
“So I would say that a healthy Bitcoin ecosystem is one where real ownership grows faster than the financial speculation.”
She acknowledged that it is difficult to know exactly how this balance will evolve as institutions, pension funds, and even states increase exposure.
Still, she said the answer partly depends on education. If people understand why Bitcoin is different, more of them may choose direct ownership instead of paper exposure.
UK Policy Still Treats Bitcoin and Crypto as the Same Thing
Ward reserved some of her strongest criticism for the UK regulatory approach. In her view, the country talks about innovation while making practical access harder.
“So you can say whatever you want about being a tech hub. It’s just words, isn’t it?”
She said the biggest policy mistake is treating all digital assets as if they share the same structure and risk profile.
“We know Bitcoin is fundamentally different from the rest of crypto. It has no issuer, no central organisation or control, no management team, no CEO.”
Because of that, she said, a one-size-fits-all framework does not work.
“So, trying to apply an identical regulatory framework across thousands, if not millions, of different digital assets simply doesn’t work because they have different risk profiles.”
Ward said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) still fails to distinguish between Bitcoin and other crypto assets in a meaningful way.
“But you need to understand the difference between all these different digital assets because a meme coin does not have the same risk profile as Bitcoin.”
In her view, separating Bitcoin from the rest of the sector is essential if the UK wants to improve its position.
Barriers to Bitcoin Access Are Growing in Britain
Ward said that even legal access to Bitcoin in the UK is often more difficult than it should be.
“So obviously we have quite a few barriers to buying Bitcoin. Legal transactions sometimes get stopped. It’s very difficult to interact with exchanges. Banks can make it quite tricky.”
She criticized cooling-off periods and mandatory quizzes, arguing that even knowledgeable users struggle to pass tests written by people who do not understand the asset.
She also raised concerns over the lack of access to a spot Bitcoin ETF in the UK.
“And another big issue that we have in the UK is we do, and this actually makes me quite mad, we don’t have a Bitcoin access to a Bitcoin spot ETF.”
Ward said this leaves savers with fewer options and can push them toward riskier proxies instead.
“A lot of people are now investing in treasury companies, which are super risky proxies. And a lot of people have lost a lot of money.”
That, she argued, conflicts with the regulator’s own consumer protection mandate.
Privacy, Innovation, and the Road Ahead
Ward also connected Bitcoin policy to wider debates around privacy and digital identity in the UK.
She pointed to innovation happening outside government, including work around verification systems that reduce data exposure through cryptographic design.
At the same time, she warned that Britain’s surveillance-heavy direction makes those debates even more urgent.
When asked what she would most like the public to understand, her answer went beyond price or speculation.
“A few things, I would want people to understand how it’s essential energy infrastructure and why, how it can help us reduce our bills and help us potentially become energy independent. I would want people to understand the human rights aspect of it, why it helps people, why it separates money and state, why that’s important, why we need sound money and why we need to connect money back to energy.”
She also argued that the UK should be well-positioned to build on Bitcoin, given its history in computing and financial services.
“When you think that we have a history of computer science and financial services, we should be all over this.”
Britain’s Bitcoin Debate Still Has Room To Mature
Bitcoin’s role in the UK is still being shaped by old narratives, regulatory caution, and limited public understanding.
Ward’s argument is that the country risks falling behind not because it lacks talent or relevance, but because too many decision-makers still start from the wrong assumptions.
For her, the challenge is not just about allowing access to an asset. It is about understanding Bitcoin as money, infrastructure, human rights technology, and a policy issue that cannot be reduced to old headlines about crime, waste, or speculation.
Until that changes, Britain may continue talking about innovation while making Bitcoin harder to understand, harder to access, and harder to build around.
Disclaimer:
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Dr. Lorena Nessi is an award-winning journalist and media technology expert with 15 years of experience in digital culture and communication. Based in Oxfordshire, UK, she combines academic insight with hands-on media practice.
She holds a PhD in Communication, Sociology, and Digital Cultures, and an MA in Globalization, Identity, and Technology.
Lorena has taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Nottingham Trent University, and the University of Oxford. She is a former producer for the BBC in London, with additional experience creating television content in Mexico and Japan.
Her research focuses on digital cultures, social media, technology, capitalism, and the societal impact of blockchain innovation.
She has written extensively on digital media and emerging technologies, with her work featured in both academic and media platforms. Her Web3 expertise explores how blockchain technologies shape culture, economics, and decentralized systems.
Outside of work, Lorena enjoys reading science fiction, playing strategic board games, traveling, and chasing adventures that get her heart racing. A perfect day ends with a relaxing spa and a good family meal.
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