LANSING, MI — Sen. Jim Ananich, D-Flint, stirred up some of his supporters on Twitter this week after tweeting that he wanted to make Michigan the most pro-bitcoin state in the country.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is essentially a computer file stored in a “digital wallet” which operates independently from banks or government oversight.
The 46-year-old Flint lawmaker said in an interview with MLive that he’d been reading about cryptocurrencies during the latest legislative break and knew he might get some pushback when he made the post Wednesday.
“When I do something I usually jump in with both feet. Clearly my tweet was a little more aggressive than some people would have liked,” Ananich said. “It’s Twitter, so when I say things I don’t look at the ratio — I just found out what that word meant.”
Someone gets ‘ratioed’ on Twitter when their post is so unpopular it attracts more replies, comments and quote tweets than it is shared. With just three retweets and 22 likes compared to 106 negative comments, Ananich’s tweet Tuesday fits that definition.
The negative comments Ananich received weren’t from his political rivals, but liberal supporters and Democratic voters. Many expressed confusion over Ananich’s “friendly competition” he offered to Josh Mandel, a far-right candidate from Ohio for running Congress. Mandel has not responded on Twitter to Ananich’s friendly wager.
State Rep. Laruie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, even joined in the replies, tweeting that she’s “once again reminded of how grateful I should be for a staff that tells me ‘no’ when I need to hear it.”
“If I find that nobody wants to engage in this then I’ll move on to other subjects. If no one is interested I’m not losing any sleep over it. I just think whenever there’s an issue out there that’s moving on without any sort of oversight, lets jump in and do it,” Ananich said.
Ananich said he fears digital currency will soon become something that only wealthy folks will have a way to benefit from. It’s a scenario people skeptical about the potential scale of cryptocurrencies say is already playing out now. Dozens of Twitter users replying to Ananich’s post criticized him for the suggestion that an anonymous and decentralized currency has any business being a priority item for lawmakers from either side of the aisle.
“I’m not necessarily the guy who thinks it’s the future but it’s a thing that people are interested in,” Ananich said. “My thinking is, we should be bitcoin friendly but we should be bitcoin smart. It’s here. If we allow it to be co-opted by Wall Street, Big Banks, when it does become a mainstream thing, it’ll push out the ordinary who might have an interest in investing in it.”
The lawmaker said he doesn’t have plans to “deliver the gospel” on the issue, but is interested in the subject and wants to bring more people in to talk about it. He said he’d like to study crypto-related policies that could possibly have a positive impact on Michigan residents.
“Let’s wrap our arms around it and figure out a policy that makes sure it’s not used for illicit behavior, it’s not used to skirt going around taxes, and that if it’s going to happen, we have some investment here. That’s all I was trying to say.”
When asked how you regulate an unregulated currency, Ananich mentioned that there are officials across the country already attempting to do just that.
“At the state level you were able to bring in investments or folks who want to do things here, you could regulate it that way,” he said. “The overall international market of it, that would probably have to be done at a federal level.”
Ananich said he first learned about crypto from a friend from Flint he had met in college who now lives in California working as a bitcoin miner. He doesn’t own any bitcoin, but said he has several friends who do.
“I don’t invest in anything that I regulate — I don’t buy stocks — I just do the most basic bare bones stuff as possible because I don’t want even an appearance of conflict,” Ananich said.
There’s no rule against lawmakers buying or trading stocks in Michigan, but there should be, Ananich said, adding that he has no intention to invest in bitcoin while in office.
“I’m happy to be bitcoin friendly but I really want to make sure we’re bitcoin smart. You can wait around for it to come, or look at it early on and guide it in a better direction.”
Ananich isn’t the only American official excited about the possibility of using favorable regulation to encourage cryptocurrency investments in his state.
The mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, announced in February that the city plans to accept tax payments in bitcoin and let employees draw their salary in the cryptocurrency. Suarez’ pro-bitcoin agenda seems to be working as the city is home to crypto companies such as MoonPay and Orca Capitol, with others recently announcing plans to bring their headquarters there.
New York City’s newly elected Mayor Eric Adams has said he thinks blockchain technology can reshape cities and be taught in schools. Adams said he plans to take his first paychecks in bitcoin.
But climate scientists are raising concerns that cryptomining comes with grave consequences to the environment.
The process to create and transact certain cryptocurrencies involves a human ‘miner’ inputting data entries into powerful computers which generate lots of heat, requiring cooling systems that use even more energy. The higher the value of the currency, the more computer power is needed to create them.
Pro-crypto groups generally dispute arguments that currency ‘mining’ is harmful to the environment, claiming the process to create the digital currencies are actually less harmful than what goes into making traditional money because crypto mining uses renewable energy.
With little long-term research on the effects of mining cryptocurrencies, you can find different answers depending on where you look.
However, a growing trend among bitcoin mining where miners give a second life to fossil fuel power plants has some US environmentalists pushing back harder than ever.
Last summer in New York, a group of local businesses joined with environmentalists to urge the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to deny a necessary permit to a former power plant being used to mine bitcoin. The facility contained more than 15,000 computers used to mine crypto.
“We are concerned that the power plant, with its new use as a bitcoin mining operation and its enormous increases in greenhouse gas emissions, will adversely impact the vibrant wine and tourism industry in the region, degrade the pastoral nature of the Finger Lakes and damage the vital natural resources on which we rely,” opponents to the site wrote in a letter to the state.
More than 70 environmental and racial justice organizations sent a letter to Congress last October to take steps to mitigate the alleged climate destruction when developing legislative and regulatory action for the industry.
Abroad, several European counties such as Norway and Sweden have recommended banning crypto mining across the EU. China banned cryptocurrency mining last summer before declaring all bitcoin transactions illegal, citing environmental concerns.
While environmental groups have been raising the alarm on the issue for years, Ananich said he’s read from others such as Michael Saylor, an American crypto executive, that crypto mining does not pose the risks to climate environmentalists claim.
“I’ve read from other people that have said the opposite: that bitcoin energy usage is cleaner than every major industry,” Ananich said. “All these things would be looked at before moving forward on anything.”
ALSO ON MLIVE:
Prosecutor asks that placement hearing for accused Oxford High School shooter remain open to public
Michigan lawmakers OK $1B for economic incentives to attract big business investments
