4 Progressives Working to Change the Narrative Around Bitcoin

Bitcoin is often associated with right-leaning politics, but that characterization is rapidly changing. There is a growing group of progressive bitcoiners who are starting to make their voices heard in the space.

The truth is that bitcoin is apolitical, a permissionless protocol, free for anyone to use. Whether it is used for greater financial inclusion or achieving climate goals, there are many reasons why progressive individuals would choose to support bitcoin.

The following four progressive bitcoiners are some of the most vocal striving to educate the political left and change the narrative about bitcoin.

Margot Paez

Margot Paez is a PhD candidate and fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a role she gained through her writings on bitcoin’s positive impact on climate change. She found bitcoin relatively early, but it took her 7 years to realize its significance.

In our interview, Paez equated bitcoin with a continuation of the Occupy movement. She sees bitcoin as an important payment rail to curb de-platforming and reign in big banks. Paez eventually got stuck because of the climate impacts, a property of bitcoin that was discussed in one of my previous articles.

“Bitcoin promotes a philosophy of grassroots, bottom-up solutions,” Paez said in our interview. She highlighted bitcoin mining making renewable energy more profitable as an example. Through free market incentives, bitcoin can help move the ball forward toward progressive goals without the need for government intervention

Paez also noted the growing circular economies in the Global South, particularly in South America as an inspiration for her. Her hope is that, over time, bitcoin can “undermine the incentives of big banks” that, in her view, led to the 2008 financial crisis and have delayed progressive climate goals.

Trey Walsh

Trey Walsh is a progressive, bitcoiner and advocate for young adults facing uncertainty in today’s world. He is the Senior Director of Youth Programs at the MassHire Metro North Workforce Board in Somerville, Massachusetts, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop partnerships and advocate for workforce solutions that result in meaningful career paths and quality employment for citizens. Walsh says he sees bitcoin as a solution for disenfranchised communities.

Wash said in an interview that inflation affects poorer communities the most. Many own no valuable assets, so their wealth is slowly devalued. He believes that by saving money in a fixed supply like bitcoin, it can help protect society’s purchasing power from inflation.

Walsh also sees bitcoin helping the immigrant community who experience roadblocks when trying to open bank accounts by eliminating that need. He also said it allows them to bypass expensive money transfer services, making transfers much cheaper. Walsh is actively trying to change the bitcoin narrative through his Bitcoin Magazine articles and podcast interviews.

Jason Maier

Jason Maier is a high school math teacher who left with a Ph.D. program to pursue teaching opportunities. He got interested in bitcoin from computer science and coding hobbies.

Maier recently published a book, A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin. “I wrote the book because I was a teacher who knew there was an audience out there that would be unreachable without different resources,” Maier said of his motivation.

Maier argues that the culture surrounding bitcoin provides a barrier to learning for those aligned with the political left, ultimately preventing them from diving deeper. He suggests that it is a mistake, and attempted to address these blind spots through this book.

“At the end of the day, Bitcoin is a monetary technology. Like any good monetary technology, it does not and should not have a political bias,” Maier said of bitcoin’s perceived politicization. He hopes his book can help educate those on the political left who are still skeptical of the emerging technology.

Mark Stephany

Mark Stephany is a hospital doctor who has been practicing medicine for 10 years. He discovered bitcoin in 2017 while reading the Harvard Business Review. He experienced some financial pain in the crypto space’s initial coin offering craze, which eventually led him back to focusing solely on bitcoin.

Stephany started The Progressive Bitcoiner in December 2021 as a result of his research. He told me that financial security underpins much of what left-leaning voters care about, and that bitcoin could be a solution.

“The same people that progressives support are the ones who have found bitcoin most useful,” Stephany said in our interview. He cited concerns about financial stability and the ability to save in a currency that does not inflate as an example. Stephany said he felt an obligation to start covering bitcoin through a progressive lens because of this realization.

The Progressive Bitcoiner podcast received over 30,000 downloads before finally shutting down in December 2022. Stephany and the other interviewees remain hopeful that over time, more left-leaning voters will begin to understand the benefits of bitcoin. By doing so, they believe bitcoin will rise above right-left political narratives and begin to effect some meaningful change.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.