Elon Musk And Michael Saylor Lead Effort By Bitcoin Miners To Address Environmental Concerns

A little less than two weeks after Tesla
TSLA
CEO Elon Musk kickstarted the plunge of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by announcing that the electric car manufacturer would stop accepting bitcoin as form of payment for its electric vehicles, citing environmental concerns, the mischievous billionaire tweeted that he met with executives of North American bitcoin mining companies. The meeting resulted in a newly-formed Bitcoin Mining Council, focused on promoting the adoption of sustainable cryptocurrency mining initiatives.

“Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage and to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising,” wrote Musk in a tweet published Monday at 3:42 pm E.T. On the announcement, the price of bitcoin jumped from $37,940 to $39,405.

Simultaneously, and in what appeared to be in coordinated fashion, Michael Saylor, CEO of the largest corporate hodler of bitcoin (Tesla is #2), the business analytics firm MicroStrategy
MSTR
, disclosed he had hosted a meeting between Elon Musk and executives from major bitcoin miners in North America, including Argo Blockchain, Blockcap, Core Scientific, Galaxy Digital, HIVE Blockchain, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain and Hut 8 Mining.  According to the statement, “the miners have agreed to form the Bitcoin Mining Council to promote energy usage transparency and accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide.” This includes standardization of energy reporting requirements, setting of industry-wide Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) goals, and further education and growth of the marketplace.

“The newly-formed Bitcoin Mining Council is the next logical step in fostering a sectoral shift to renewable energy,” said Peter Wall, chief executive of Argo Blockchain, in a written statement to Forbes. Wall writes he “looks forward to joining Michael Saylor and other leading North American miners in working to future-proof an industry that must collectively improve sustainable mining practices and take ESG concerns seriously.” Marathon Digital Holdings and Hut 8 Mining also confirmed their participation and the group’s ambitions via tweets. Other companies forming the Council have not been immediately available for comment. 

The news comes on the heels of a growing spotlight on cryptocurrency mining operations around the world. Aside from a more acute focus on the environmental impact of bitcoin mining, the industry is also facing an intensifying crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading activities by Chinese authorities. These factors have the potential to dramatically disrupt the distribution and operations of the bitcoin mining landscape, where as of April 2020, China accounted for more than 75% of the total processing power on the network, according to research published by a peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications. China’s crypto mining hegemony is largely attributed to cheaper electricity prices and large undeveloped lands for pool construction. 

Though the initiative represents a novel effort by some of the most well-known cryptocurrency mining operators in North America, its further goals and prospects remain undisclosed.