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- Elon Musk met with Michael Saylor and North American Bitcoin miners over BTC environmental concerns.
- The miners have decided to establish the Bitcoin Mining Council to address BTC sustainability issues.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he recently met with executives of Bitcoin mining companies in North America over BTC environmental concerns. While announcing the meeting with North American Bitcoin miners on the 24th of May, Musk added that the miners are now “committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so.” The CEO seemed pleased with the latest development surrounding Bitcoin mining. He noted in the tweet that the miner’s move is “potentially promising.”
Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2021
The Bitcoin Mining Council
Shortly after the Tesla CEO’s tweet, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said he hosted the meeting between Musk and the top Bitcoin miners in North America. Saylor further revealed the outcome of the meeting. He said:
The miners have agreed to form the Bitcoin Mining Council to promote energy usage transparency & accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide.
Additionally, Saylor highlighted the executives that were present at the meeting. Some of them are Argo Blockchain, Blockcap, Core Scientific, Galaxy Digital, and Hive Blockchain Technologies. Others include Hut 8 Mining, Marathon Digital Holdings, and Riot Blockchain.
Confirming its presence at the meeting, Hut 8 Mining said that its CEO, Jamie Leverton, attended the meeting with Musk, Saylor, and other executives on Bitcoin mining companies. According to the company, the gathering has decided to form an organization to “standardize energy reporting.” Hut 8 Mining also added that the organization would educate the market that sustainable mining is a priority and equally possible.
The CEO of Argo Blockchain, Peter Wall, stated his pleasure on the meeting with Saylor, Musk and other miners. He remarked:
As a founding member of the Bitcoin Mining Council, Argo will push hard for sustainable mining and more transparency. This is the way.
Merrick Okamoto of Marathon Digital Holdings also said that the company would do its part to contribute to Bitcoin’s sustainable mining and transparency.
Musk took a U-turn from being an ardent supporter of Bitcoin when he slammed the top coin over energy usage. At the time, the CEO also said that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin payments as earlier announced. The announcement led to an immediate and sharp decline in the value of Bitcoin. Since then, the cryptocurrency is yet to recover from the fall.
BTC recovers weekend losses
Bitcoin recorded gains after Musk announced the meeting with North American Bitcoin miners. BTC shot up from $37,940 to $39,405. At the time of writing, our data showed that Bitcoin had added 5.59 percent in the last 24 hours. It currently trades at $38,300.
According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), Bitcoin mining consumes about 110 Terawatt Hours annually. This energy consumption represents around 0.55 percent of global electricity production. The researchers also noted that Bitcoin’s energy usage is more than the energy consumption of some countries like Argentina, Malaysia, and Sweden. CBECI added that the Bitcoin mining process could increase to 128 Terawatt Hours in 2021.
At press time, there is no announcement yet stating the details of the miners’ plans to address Bitcoin environmental issues.
