Learn more about BPI Fellow Yaël Ossowski in the latest installment of our Meet the Fellows series.
What do you do for work?
I'm a writer and former journalist, having worked in TV, newspapers, and online media, who has now been active in public policy as a consumer advocate for the last 8 years. I'm deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center, which I helped found in 2017. Before that, I worked as a grassroots organizer for the pro-liberty group Students For Liberty, helping with fundraising and program management for both North America and Europe. Through that work, I was able to travel to 30+ countries to advocate for pro-liberty ideas on campus and beyond.
How did you wind up in your current role?
My friends and I founded the organization Consumer Choice Center in 2017, in order to push back against taxi drivers and local regulators who were trying to outlaw Uber in some European cities. We wanted to support consumers who like innovation and choice, and aren't fans on bad regulatory policy. Since then, we've grown the organization to more than two dozen people and have achieved policy wins on three continents.
How did you become interested in researching Bitcoin?
I was first interested in Bitcoin in 2012. As part of Occupy Tampa in Florida and some of the local libertarian groups, we were all very excited about the birth of a decentralized private currency online. It jived with our values. I began using it a lot once I also moved abroad, and became very interested in using Bitcoin as a way to achieve free markets in my own life. At my previous organization, Students For Liberty, I was able to convince them to begin accepting Bitcoin in 2014. My first lecture on Bitcoin was in Vienna, Austria in 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtVypq2f0G4
What are your most significant intellectual interests aside from Bitcoin?
Apart from writing columns on various consumer issues, everything from cannabis legalization to tort legal reform and privacy, I'm a ham radio operator who loves learning about decentralized tech.
Have your views on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency broadly changed over time?
Absolutely. Though I was very excited by the rise of Bitcoin for the first few years that I used it, I became rather bearish by the bull market of 2017 because of the various ICOs and scams, as well as the inability of people to learn how to run a node or even get their own wallets with private keys. I wrote this article on my feelings in 2017, and received plenty of hate at the time: https://devolutionreview.com/bearish-on-bitcoin/
What misconception about Bitcoin do you hear most from your colleagues?
Bitcoin has no utility. It's a play thing. Rather than a sovereign protocol to transfer assets without fear of censorship, it's just for internet nerds to play around with. I've heard this for years. But nobody says no to free Bitcoin.
What misconception about Bitcoin or the subject of your research do you hear most from Bitcoin enthusiasts?
I'm much more skeptical about the need to have the government involved too heavily in Bitcoin. We have seen so much destruction of wealth and economic progress due to regulatory policies, that I fear that inviting government in any way to the Bitcoin network would be a problem. Of course, we deserve to have legal certainty and the ability to transact without fear of having our liberties usurped, and therefore that's why I am so passionate about the need to protect self-custody and allow the entrepreneurs to develop the very best solutions for Bitcoin holders.
What are your hopes for the future of BPI?
For BPI to become the premier policy force for positive thinking for a society gradually accepting and normalizing Bitcoin. There are intellectual heavyweights from nearly every industry at BPI, and I'm hopeful that the organization will be a central node in propagating the advantages and unique properties of Bitcoin that can lead individuals to leave freer and more just lives.
Favorite novel?
Sphere by Michael Crichton
Favorite U.S. President?
William McKinley
Who is your biggest intellectual influence?
Henry David Thoreau
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