- Elon Musk and Michael Saylor have announced a Bitcoin Mining Council formed of some of North America’s biggest miners
- The Bitcoin Mining Council will “promote energy usage transparency” and “accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide”
- Musk has conducted blatant Bitcoin price manipulation throughout the episode
Elon Musk completed the next stage in his Bitcoin price manipulation efforts yesterday by announcing the formation of the Bitcoin Mining Council following a meeting between himself, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and some of North America’s biggest Bitcoin miners. The Bitcoin Mining Council will work to make Bitcoin mining a more environmentally friendly process, promoting transparency in their operations and working on less energy intensive technologies.
Musk Manipulation Continues
Earlier this month Musk helped crash the Bitcoin price by announcing that Tesla would no longer be accepting bitcoin for its vehicles just weeks after making a big deal about doing so, prompting many to speculate that something bigger was at play. Some even suggested that Musk was planning a technology that would reduce Bitcoin’s environmental impact, and that could well form part of the future of the Bitcoin Mining Council, which Musk himself announced yesterday:
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
Shortly after Musk’s tweet, Saylor, with whom Musk has been verbally sparring over Bitcoin’s fundamentals in recent days, put out his own tweet summarizing the aims of the new council:
Execs from @ArgoBlockchain , @blockcap, @Core_Scientific, @GalaxyDigitalHQ, @HiveBlockchain, @hut8mining, @MarathonDH & @RiotBlockchain were present & decided to establish an organization to standardize energy reporting, pursue industry ESG goals, & educate+grow the marketplace.
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) May 24, 2021
Not everyone was thrilled with the development however with some continuing to question the merits of Musk’s involvement in the space:
So… I’m the only one feeling like billionaires are kind of making bitcoin their toy ?
Closed door meetings doesn’t feel really decentralised. Incoming weak points for #Bitcoin ?
Or I’m just over thinking this and it’s just great. https://t.co/2vEZrzvCqO
— Pierre (@pierre_crypt0) May 24, 2021
Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall, whose company is one of those on the council, told Forbes that its development was “the next logical step in fostering a sectoral shift to renewable energy”, adding that his company way looking forward to “working to future-proof an industry that must collectively improve sustainable mining practices and take ESG concerns seriously.”
Bitcoin Mining Council Addresses Mainstream Media Concerns
Bitcoin’s environmental impact has been a subject of much attention from mainstream media outlets in recent months as they have looked for a new way to attack the cryptocurrency after institutional uptake ruined their complaints about its lack of interest outside trading circles.
With the Bitcoin Mining Council now looking at ways of improving the green credentials of the ecosystem, possibly with Musk’s money to back research, it will be interesting to see how the narrative develops from here.
