(Kitco News) - As the European energy crisis drags on, Europeans face a stark choice, according to Irina Heaver, Partner at Keystone Law: "Do I feed my kids, or do I warm my home?"
"My neighbors are actually stacking firewood," she said. "I believe that stacking firewood is more profitable now than stacking sats [satoshis]. That's what I would recommend to everyone. Stack gold, stack sats, stack firewood."
She added that "30 percent of Europeans will be in fuel poverty" this winter.
Although natural gas and oil prices have eased since their peak this year, prices remain elevated compared to their 10-year average. Heaver said that misguided government energy policies had led to the energy crisis.
"The leftist policies of pursuing so called environmentally-safe energy sources got us here to start with," she said. "The environmental policies made Europe so dependent on Russian gas that… this is why we have this mess."
Heaver spoke with David Lin, Anchor and Producer at Kitco News, at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai.
Renewable Energy
Although she claims not to be an energy expert, Heaver said that energy policy in Europe is poorly implemented.
"When you drive through Europe, you see those wind farms just standing still, and then you see the dumps of old wind farms," she observed. "You basically cannot recycle [old turbines]. They're just dumped there… I do not think that renewable energy is the answer."
She also suggested that European countries' decision to "move away from nuclear power" has been harmful.
"Why don't we have more nuclear power plants?" Heaver said. "Now they're trying to say that nuclear power is green power."
She added that such "political speak" is not helping, and that "this winter will be tough, but the next winter will be even tougher."
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War and Bitcoin
European politicians often blame Russia's invasion of Ukraine for the continent's ongoing energy crisis.
Heaver said that the Russia-Ukraine conflict highlights why Bitcoin is useful compared to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, since the latter can be made more easily available to fund wars.
"With a fiat standard, unfortunately, the governments can just print money without your approval or my approval, and continue wars into perpetuity," she said. "That's why we need Bitcoin."
She added that under a Bitcoin standard, in which money is backed by Bitcoin, a war-hungry government will have to ask its citizens, "Can you contribute your Bitcoin to me so I can go and invade another country?"
"And the citizens will say, no, thank you very much," she suggested. "They can just refuse."
To find out Heaver's thoughts on Ethereum, watch the video above.
Follow David Lin on Twitter: @davidlin_TV
Follow Kitco News on Twitter: @KitcoNewsNOW
