Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision, has taken to his account on the X platform (formerly know as Twitter) to warn Bitcoin holders in Australia over the “Orwellian legislation” that may include them as potential law violators.

Holding Bitcoin could become illegal in Australia, Coutts suggests

Coutts shared a tweet published by writer and journalist Alex James about the recent legislation passed in Australia. The analyst referred to it as “Orwellian” since it warns about “serious harm” that can allegedly be caused in certain aspects of public life, both toward other citizens and elements of the local state system. These cases can be classified as “defamation.”

Among “regular things” such as sexual orientation, gender self-identity, nationality, etc., “serious harm” now can also be caused if a person expresses a lack of confidence in the banking system and spreads “misinformation” about it. This could “bring harm” to the Australian economy.

Bitcoin was initially created by Satoshi Nakamoto as a tool for those who do not trust the banking system. Therefore, Jamie Coutts tweeted: “If you live in Australia and own Bitcoin you better wake up. This Orwellian legislation is aimed right at you!”

Alex James stated the same thing in his tweet: “Serious harm is…harm to ‘public confidence’ in the banking system. If you’re not confident in the banking system, you are spreading misinfo.”

Bitcoin miners go on selling spree

According to a recent tweet published by Santiment on-chain data aggregator, Bitcoin mining wallets have been on a strong decline since the first half of 2024. The same has been happening to the Ethereum miner supply.

Santiment’s analysts say that after the recent mild rebound faced by Bitcoin, once the combined supplies of Bitcoin and Ethereum miners start growing again, it could be interpreted as a “strong signal the next bull run is approaching.”

Over the past week, the world’s flagship cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has staged an increase of more than 8%, rising from $53,490 to the $57,790 level, where it is changing hands at the time of this writing.

This week, as reported by U.Today, Bitcoin miners sold 30,000 BTC worth roughly $1.7 billion within just 72 hours.