As criticism of bitcoin’s energy consumption grows louder, mining companies have decided to form a Bitcoin Mining Council to promote best practices. The entity held its first update on Twitter Spaces, revealing its goals in more detail.
The Bitcoin Mining Council held its first public meeting on June 16, The Block reports. Created in the wake of Tesla’s backtracking on bitcoin, this initiative brings together several crypto companies wishing to promote the use of renewable energies in bitcoin mining. It includes MicroStrategy, Argo Blockchain, Blockcap, Core Scientific, Galaxy Digital and Hive Blockchain Technologies.
The 90-minute meeting was public and took place on Twitter Spaces, the blue bird social media tool that offers Clubhouse-style conversation spaces. ” The Bitcoin Mining Council is a forum open to all bitcoin miners who care about the network and its founding principles », Said Jamie Leverton, CEO of Hut 8 Mining. One of the main missions of this council is to allow the exchange of good practices and to promote greater transparency on Bitcoin mining and its energy consumption.
No selection criteria or binding rules
The problem that this poses is not new, but became particularly visible after Elon Musk announced that Tesla would no longer allow payment in bitcoin until the mining of this cryptocurrency was greener. He also specified, not long ago, what criteria had to be met for Tesla to authorize it again, in particular a minimum threshold of 50% of renewable energy used for mining. Well aware of being closely scrutinized on this subject, the miners of the Council want to encourage the use of more renewable energies.
The Bitcoin Mining Council (referred to by the acronym BMC for Bitcoin Mining Council), however, has carefully avoided positioning itself as a regulatory body. ” BMC doesn’t ‘bite’ and it doesn’t tell minors what to do », Indicates the entity. The Council also accepts applications from minors, without imposing any selection criteria. ” Issuing orders, setting goals or rules is absolutely not on the program, insisted Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy, specifies The Block. We are not a whole governance “.
Restoring the image of bitcoin
The Council has just been created, this strategy is however understandable: the objective is to encourage as many minors as possible to join the initiative. As the ranks grow and the entity’s budget grows, the Board wants to put in place a model to reveal in more detail the energy consumption of the network, the types of energy used and the share they represent. However, the collection of information will be done on a voluntary basis.
Obviously, the Bitcoin Mining Council was also created to improve the image of Bitcoin tarnished by the information published on its energy consumption. ” We’re not here to fix bitcoin, said Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy according to The Block. What we want to do is stand up for the values held by bitcoin and set the record straight when we see people failing to understand how it works. These misunderstandings can lead politicians to take retaliatory action against bitcoin or result in negative media articles that undermine the development of bitcoin around the world. “. We can therefore expect a “seduction operation” from the BMC to the public and the media in the coming months.
Helping bitcoin miners defend themselves
” We cannot be successful if we are not united, insisted Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy. You can say that you are philosophically opposed to the idea of organizing, but if you are an isolated bitcoin miner, and you get sued by a multibillionaire who is drowning you under $ 10 million in legal fees, you will be happy. to be part of an organization that has a fund to organize your defense. “
Note that if Elon Musk had met at the end of May members of the Council in the process of being set up and judged the initiative ” promising ” in a tweet, he is not on the Bitcoin Mining Council. Moreover, it was hardly mentioned during the discussion. According to The Block, only one of the participants alluded to it, worrying that the tweets of a ” only one person, Elon Musk for example, could create a lot of volatility “.
