PANews reported on May 25 that according to Cointelegrap, Australian Senator Gerard Rennick has been criticized by the Bitcoin community for calling Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme and questioning its value (because it is "not edible") on the X platform. He also added that Bitcoin "will definitely not produce anything" and that Australia "needs real engineers, not financial engineers."

The Australian Bitcoin Industry Association (ABIB) said Rennick's comments about "Bitcoin" "revealed a deep misunderstanding of Bitcoin." "You can't eat the Internet, so are you against the Internet?" said Laura Shin, host of the "Unchained" podcast. "This is definitely going to last. Please share your deeper and more nuanced understanding of Bitcoin so that we can understand it better," said Jimmy Kostro, head of the Bitcoin Marathon team.