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The Rise and Fall of Rowan Energy
All is written and researched by By ChatGPT and podcast generated by Google NotebookLM
A Vision of Green Energy Meets Blockchain
In 2018, David Duckworth, a British entrepreneur, launched Rowan Energy with an enticing pitch: merge the booming world of blockchain with the urgent need for renewable energy. The idea was simple enough to capture imaginations. Homeowners with solar panels could install a Rowan SmartMiner, an IoT device that would measure solar output and reward them with cryptocurrency — the RWN token — for every kilowatt-hour of clean power produced.
Rowan promised that each kWh would not only earn its generator an extra £0.10, but also be logged on an immutable blockchain, creating tradable carbon offset certificates. In interviews, Duckworth spoke of “the world’s first community-fed green energy blockchain”, positioning Rowan as a pioneer at the intersection of sustainability and Web3.
The narrative was seductive: help the planet, get paid, and ride the next crypto wave.
The Token That Wasn’t What It Seemed
Central to Rowan’s ecosystem was the RWN token, supposedly capped at 545 million coins. Investors bought into the scarcity story. By late 2023, RWN’s price had soared to $0.36, giving the project a notional market cap in the hundreds of millions.
But beneath the surface, the economics were rotten. A white-hat researcher probing Rowan’s private blockchain in April 2025 discovered something stunning: the actual supply wasn’t 545 million at all, but closer to 945 million. Hidden in the contract code was a secret backdoor function — mintToken(address,uint256) — allowing Rowan to create unlimited tokens at will.
To prove it, the researcher minted a billion RWN tokens to a test address, then burned them immediately. The blockchain — Rowan’s own blockchain — confirmed the mint. It was the smoking gun.
This meant that every claim about fixed supply, every chart showing scarcity, every promise of value was false. Rowan had been quietly inflating the token supply, dumping coins onto exchanges while investors remained in the dark.
Denial, Gaslighting, and Collapse
When confronted, CEO David Duckworth did not confess. On April 16, 2025, he dismissed the revelations as “false and misleading.” Days later, he claimed an “unauthorized access point” had been exploited, trying to pin the blame on hackers rather than Rowan’s own code.
For two months, Duckworth strung his community along. He promised audits, hinted at a new transparent chain, and issued vague reassurances. Meanwhile, trading halted, withdrawals were frozen, and RWN’s price nosedived by more than 99%.
On June 24, 2025, Rowan Energy announced it was “retiring” the RWN token due to “technical and reputational challenges.” The euphemism was laughable. Within days, Rowan scrubbed its website, deleted its YouTube videos, and locked down its Telegram group. Duckworth himself disappeared from public view.
Investors were left holding worthless tokens and £1,500 SmartMiner devices reduced to paperweights.
The Human Toll
The collapse reverberated across review sites and forums. On Trustpilot, Rowan’s rating cratered to “Poor.”
“I lost everything I put into this project — and even went into debt believing in their vision,” one reviewer wrote. Another summed it up bluntly: “Many people invested their life savings, believing the videos its CEO shared, the excitement he generated, and the promises he made.”
On Reddit, the verdict was harsher: “Glad you didn’t buy a SmartMiner. It was a pyramid scheme once they abandoned the blockchain.”
Solar industry professionals felt vindicated but angry. Conor Quinn, a UK installer who had declined Rowan’s overtures, called it “the biggest scam in solar since the Rent-a-Roof scheme.”
A Timeline of Betrayal
* 2018 – Rowan Energy founded in London by David Duckworth.
* 2020–2021 – Early marketing promises of blockchain-powered solar rewards. Skeptics note closed code and lack of transparency.
* 2023 – Partnership with ESE Solar. Over 1,000 SmartMiners installed. RWN token peaks at $0.36.
* Late 2024 – Rewards falter, price collapses. Rowan blames upgrades.
* April 2025 – White-hat hacker exposes hidden mint function. Duckworth denies, then blames “hackers.”
* June 2025 – Rowan retires RWN token, erases online presence, and effectively vanishes.
Scam From the Start?
Whether Rowan began as a scam or devolved into one, the evidence is damning. The hidden mint function was not an accident; it was engineered. The concealment of supply data, the manipulated block explorer, and the evasive responses suggest premeditation.
Duckworth’s history adds weight: as far back as 2011, he was accused of vanishing from a property investment scheme. Rowan appears less an honest failure than a polished rerun of that pattern, this time dressed in the language of blockchain and climate action.
Lessons for Blockchain and Renewables
Rowan Energy’s implosion is more than just another crypto rug pull. It represents a direct hit to the credibility of blockchain in the renewable sector. Projects that genuinely seek to tokenize energy assets or build decentralized infrastructure now face deeper skepticism.
The Rowan case shows how green rhetoric and crypto hype can combine into a particularly toxic scam cocktail. It preyed not only on speculators, but also on homeowners trying to do the right thing for the planet.
The broader lesson is painfully clear: in crypto, as in energy, transparency is not optional. If a project won’t open its books — or its blockchain — assume the worst.
As one former investor put it: “The only thing green about Rowan Energy was the cash Duckworth walked away with.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frahlg.substack.com
View all episodes
By Fredrik AhlgrenAll is written and researched by By ChatGPT and podcast generated by Google NotebookLM
A Vision of Green Energy Meets Blockchain
In 2018, David Duckworth, a British entrepreneur, launched Rowan Energy with an enticing pitch: merge the booming world of blockchain with the urgent need for renewable energy. The idea was simple enough to capture imaginations. Homeowners with solar panels could install a Rowan SmartMiner, an IoT device that would measure solar output and reward them with cryptocurrency — the RWN token — for every kilowatt-hour of clean power produced.
Rowan promised that each kWh would not only earn its generator an extra £0.10, but also be logged on an immutable blockchain, creating tradable carbon offset certificates. In interviews, Duckworth spoke of “the world’s first community-fed green energy blockchain”, positioning Rowan as a pioneer at the intersection of sustainability and Web3.
The narrative was seductive: help the planet, get paid, and ride the next crypto wave.
The Token That Wasn’t What It Seemed
Central to Rowan’s ecosystem was the RWN token, supposedly capped at 545 million coins. Investors bought into the scarcity story. By late 2023, RWN’s price had soared to $0.36, giving the project a notional market cap in the hundreds of millions.
But beneath the surface, the economics were rotten. A white-hat researcher probing Rowan’s private blockchain in April 2025 discovered something stunning: the actual supply wasn’t 545 million at all, but closer to 945 million. Hidden in the contract code was a secret backdoor function — mintToken(address,uint256) — allowing Rowan to create unlimited tokens at will.
To prove it, the researcher minted a billion RWN tokens to a test address, then burned them immediately. The blockchain — Rowan’s own blockchain — confirmed the mint. It was the smoking gun.
This meant that every claim about fixed supply, every chart showing scarcity, every promise of value was false. Rowan had been quietly inflating the token supply, dumping coins onto exchanges while investors remained in the dark.
Denial, Gaslighting, and Collapse
When confronted, CEO David Duckworth did not confess. On April 16, 2025, he dismissed the revelations as “false and misleading.” Days later, he claimed an “unauthorized access point” had been exploited, trying to pin the blame on hackers rather than Rowan’s own code.
For two months, Duckworth strung his community along. He promised audits, hinted at a new transparent chain, and issued vague reassurances. Meanwhile, trading halted, withdrawals were frozen, and RWN’s price nosedived by more than 99%.
On June 24, 2025, Rowan Energy announced it was “retiring” the RWN token due to “technical and reputational challenges.” The euphemism was laughable. Within days, Rowan scrubbed its website, deleted its YouTube videos, and locked down its Telegram group. Duckworth himself disappeared from public view.
Investors were left holding worthless tokens and £1,500 SmartMiner devices reduced to paperweights.
The Human Toll
The collapse reverberated across review sites and forums. On Trustpilot, Rowan’s rating cratered to “Poor.”
“I lost everything I put into this project — and even went into debt believing in their vision,” one reviewer wrote. Another summed it up bluntly: “Many people invested their life savings, believing the videos its CEO shared, the excitement he generated, and the promises he made.”
On Reddit, the verdict was harsher: “Glad you didn’t buy a SmartMiner. It was a pyramid scheme once they abandoned the blockchain.”
Solar industry professionals felt vindicated but angry. Conor Quinn, a UK installer who had declined Rowan’s overtures, called it “the biggest scam in solar since the Rent-a-Roof scheme.”
A Timeline of Betrayal
* 2018 – Rowan Energy founded in London by David Duckworth.
* 2020–2021 – Early marketing promises of blockchain-powered solar rewards. Skeptics note closed code and lack of transparency.
* 2023 – Partnership with ESE Solar. Over 1,000 SmartMiners installed. RWN token peaks at $0.36.
* Late 2024 – Rewards falter, price collapses. Rowan blames upgrades.
* April 2025 – White-hat hacker exposes hidden mint function. Duckworth denies, then blames “hackers.”
* June 2025 – Rowan retires RWN token, erases online presence, and effectively vanishes.
Scam From the Start?
Whether Rowan began as a scam or devolved into one, the evidence is damning. The hidden mint function was not an accident; it was engineered. The concealment of supply data, the manipulated block explorer, and the evasive responses suggest premeditation.
Duckworth’s history adds weight: as far back as 2011, he was accused of vanishing from a property investment scheme. Rowan appears less an honest failure than a polished rerun of that pattern, this time dressed in the language of blockchain and climate action.
Lessons for Blockchain and Renewables
Rowan Energy’s implosion is more than just another crypto rug pull. It represents a direct hit to the credibility of blockchain in the renewable sector. Projects that genuinely seek to tokenize energy assets or build decentralized infrastructure now face deeper skepticism.
The Rowan case shows how green rhetoric and crypto hype can combine into a particularly toxic scam cocktail. It preyed not only on speculators, but also on homeowners trying to do the right thing for the planet.
The broader lesson is painfully clear: in crypto, as in energy, transparency is not optional. If a project won’t open its books — or its blockchain — assume the worst.
As one former investor put it: “The only thing green about Rowan Energy was the cash Duckworth walked away with.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frahlg.substack.com