Yahoo Finance 56%: Bitcoin believers say mining IS sustainable
Over half of the energy used for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable sources, according to the newly established Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC).
The BMC is a voluntary forum of Bitcoin mining companies and others within the Bitcoin industry who have come together to “promote transparency, share best practices and educate the public”.
The findings were published in its first quarterly survey and found members of the BMC and participants in the survey are utilising electricity with a 67 per cent sustainable power mix.
Based on the data BMC estimates that the global mining industry’s sustainable electricity mix had grown to approximately 56 per cent, “making it one of the most sustainable industries globally,” the BMC said.
One of the members of the BMC, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, praised the creation of the BMC as an important step to bring more transparency and understanding to the Bitcoin mining industry.
Saylor said the voluntary submission of Bitcoin mining data by industry participants will help to play an important role in demystifying the Bitcoin mining industry.
“I am pleased to see that the Bitcoin mining industry has come together, voluntarily, to provide critical information to the general public and policymakers, especially as it pertains to clarifying common misconceptions about the nature and scale of Bitcoin energy usage,” Saylor said.
“As I’ve stated before, just because the Bitcoin network is decentralised doesn’t mean it has to be disorganised.”
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Hitting back at China and Elon Musk
This comes after the Bitcoin community has been reeling from a crackdown in China and some kickback from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
China announced a range of crackdown measures against cryptocurrency mining recently with the nation forcing the closure of bitcoin mines in the province of Sichuan, according to the Communist Party-owned paper the Global Times.
Sichuan Province is one of China's largest cryptocurrency mining bases and regulators in other key mining hubs in China's north and southwest regions have taken similar harsh steps.
Darin Feinstein, founder of Blockcap and Core Scientific, noted that the survey comes at a pivotal moment after the Bitcoin industry saw its mining operations further decentralised as a result of miners leaving China.
“Despite China shutting down over 60 pe rcent of the global Bitcoin network, the Bitcoin network experienced zero downtime, no bailouts, has registered no bankruptcies and simply adapted by redeploying its infrastructure into regions that have greater freedoms,” Feinstein said.
“The network remains as strong as ever, it simply shrugs off adversity and moves forward.”
Prior to that, Bitcoin was hit by Elon Musk’s decision to stop accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for Tesla cars.
Taking to Twitter the billionaire said Tesla was concerned about the use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions.
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