Earlier this month, Elon Musk challenged Bitcoin miners to stop driving a massive increase in fossil fuel use when Tesla stopped allowing customers the option of paying with Bitcoin. This challenge was met with a lot of criticism, especially from those who support Bitcoin and crypto. However, this challenge was also taken seriously and this is an excellent thing.
To be clear, I strongly believe in crypto, but it can’t drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021
Michael Saylor, the co-founder of MicroStrategy, shared on Twitter that he hosted a meeting between Elon Musk and the leading Bitcoin miners in North America. Together the group will form the Bitcoin Mining Council which will promote energy usage transparency while aligning with Tesla’s own mission of accelerating sustainability initiatives.
Yesterday I was pleased to host a meeting between @elonmusk & the leading Bitcoin miners in North America. The miners have agreed to form the Bitcoin Mining Council to promote energy usage transparency & accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide. https://t.co/EHgLZ9zvDK
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 24, 2021
This moves Bitcoin more in sync with Tesla’s mission which is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Saylor’s tweet came right after Elon Musk shared that he had recently spoken with North American Bitcoin miners. Elon said that the miners committed to publishing current and planned renewable usage. North American Bitcoin miners also promised to invite Bitcoin miners from all over the world to join this new mission. “Potentially promising,” Elon said.
See #Bitcoin Maxi’s. Elon doesn’t hate #Bitcoin.
And y’all are all boycotting and pouncing around like little children.
— David Gokhshtein (@davidgokhshtein) May 24, 2021
Saylor noted that executives from Argo Blockchain, BlockCap, Core Scientific, Galaxy Digital, Hive Blockchain, Hut 8 Mining, Marathon Digital Holding, and Riot Blockchain were all in attendance. The executives also decided to establish an organization to standardize energy reporting, pursue ESG goals and educate and grow the marketplace.
Look Elon was in the chat #eloninthechat pic.twitter.com/73rr9uavTn
— Chris B 💎🙌 (@DogecoinChrisB) May 25, 2021
Matt Wallace was having a Twitter Spaces session as I was writing this and Elon Musk was in that Space. However, I’ve been having problems with Twitter Spaces and can never get the audio to work. When I dropped in, Elon was already gone and I couldn’t hear what they were talking about.
It will be interesting to see if there’s any new ideas, solutions or news that comes as a result of this chat.
Some Recurring New FUD
As one scrolls through the replies to both Elon Musk and Michael Saylor, you can see a few common pieces of fear, uncertainty, and doubt start to show. A lot of people are worried about various things and, honestly, I don’t know enough about to fully debunk or verify the claims of those who are fearful in some of the instances.
The “Billionaires are Bad” FUD
One Twitter user was worried that billionaires talking about clean energy could be a bad thing. Considering that I live in Louisiana and our policymakers are financially enslaved to the oil industry, I think billionaires talking about clean energy is not as bad as government officials nursing big oil’s thumb. Just my opinion.
I don’t think that a group of billionaires, especially if the group is led by Elon Musk, trying to solve an environmental problem that has been a challenge for Bitcoin mining is a bad thing. I’d be more worried if Trump or any politicians were the ones leading these meetings.
Others thought the meeting should have been televised or live-streamed for transparency and I do agree with this. At least make future meetings inclusve toward the Bitcoin community so they will feel as if they are a part of this new endeavor.
Perhaps it was recorded and there are plans in place to share the video. This would be a great move for those seeking transparency and for those wanting it.
“Miners Want The Price To Go Up”
Another recurring theme that I observed were worries that this would drive the prices of mining up. I don’t know enough about mining so I can’t debunk this one until I’ve learned more.
What I do know is that replacing coal with renewable energy can save up to $141 billion by 2025. That report comes from the Rocky Mountain Institute which partnered with Carbon Tracker Initiative and the Sierra Club. The report stated,
“Replacing uncompetitive coal with clean energy could already save electricity customers around the world $39 billion in 2020, and these annual savings rise quickly to $86 billion in 2022 and $141 billion in 2025.”
So, with that in mind, it should be noted that renewables will help Bitcoin miners save money in the long run. Whether or not this will affect the mining prices negatively, I don’t know.
“The Council Will Rule Bitcoin And End Decentralization.”
Many are upset over this news because they fear that Bitcoin will be controlled by the council. One Twitter user, Untapped Growth, asked how the miners would keep these initiatives from devolving into crony systems of regulatory control that would allow governments to enforce their will over money again? Matt Jones replied to this pointing out that the governments will never be able to enforce their will and if there were attempts, it would ensure inevitable bankruptcy.
They will never be able to enforce their will over it, attempts at such an idea only ensures their inevitable bankruptcy.
— Matt Jones (@awsumatt) May 24, 2021