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Jun. 17, 20215 min read

Don’t Be Mine: Bitcoin Mining Council Shuns Elon Musk

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  • Council formed to educate the public about Bitcoin…
  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk not part of group…
  • Kraken CEO challenges Musk…

The newly launched Bitcoin Mining Council held its first official meeting to address recent concerns over the energy consumption of mining the cryptocurrency.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) founder and CEO Michael Saylor hosted a Twitter Spaces meeting for the council Wednesday night.

That meeting was open to the public and Saylor said the focus was on “mining, the energy debate, network dynamics, China mining policy, North American mining developments, tech trends & industry outlook.”

Nine companies founded the Bitcoin Mining Council:

Notably absent from the council is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who sparked the debate over the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining in May.

The Council’s site says “Elon Musk has no role at the BMC. The extent of his involvement was joining an educational call with a group of North American companies to discuss Bitcoin mining.”

The group says their mandate is to “promote transparency, share best practices, and educate the public on the benefits of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining.”

Self-proclaimed “Bitcoin podcaster” Stephan Livera live-tweeted the meeting which included speakers such as Galaxy Digital Head of Mining Amanda Fabiano, Riot CEO Jason Les (NASDAQ:RIOT), Nic Carter, and Blockcap founder Darin Feinstein.

Feinstein sent out a tweet after the meeting, seemingly downplaying the influence of the council on Bitcoin. 

During the meeting, Saylor spoke about the future outlook of the bitcoin mining industry.

He said, “The first 10 yrs of Bitcoin, it required inspiration, conviction, courage. The next 10 yrs we have to keep that up, but we’ll need to bring together industry and diplomacy. Interacting with govt at federal, state, local level.”

Saylor also raised concerns about reporting being done on Bitcoin’s energy use by those who don’t understand the cryptocurrency and said governments and large corporations need to get on board for the digital currency to be successful.

“Can Bitcoin go to a $100T network without states and large public co’s? Answer is no, if we don’t have governors on board, or large public co’s. If we want bitcoin to be a long-lasting asset, you want publicly traded Bitcoin miners… if we agree on Bitcoin, diplomacy means we need to find a way to work together.”

Crypto Exec Pushes Back on Claims Bitcoin Isn’t Green

In an interview on Bloomberg this morning, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell took aim directly at Musk for his claims about the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining.

Powell said, “I think Bitcoin is a lot greener than people give it credit for. It is a way to capture a lot of discarded and lost energy. It’s a way to bootstrap renewables. So I think it’s doing a lot actually for the renewable energy sector.”

He also took direct aim at the Tesla CEO saying, “I don’t know how long Elon has been studying this, but I think he’s got some more studying to do on this topic.”

Musk quickly responded to that challenge, questioning what data Powell is using to defend the cryptocurrency as green. 

Powell also addressed Kraken’s plans to go public soon saying they are “doing all the prep work” for an IPO.

“We’re on a mission to bring crypto to the world, and our valuation hopefully will be a reflection of our success in achieving that mission,” he said.

He also remained bullish on the cryptocurrency despite recent turmoil.

“I’ve said one Bitcoin, one Lambo by the end of the year,” Powell said. “It may be a Lambo with fewer options or a smaller engine at this point, but I think we’re still looking at very lofty price targets.”

Crypto Related Stocks Rise, Coins Struggle

Bitcoin-related stocks rose today following that meeting of the Bitcoin Mining Council.

At writing, Coinbase (COIN) was up more than 1.5%, Riot (RIOT) was trading more than 3.7% higher, MicroStrategy (MSTR) rose 1.8% and Marathon Digital (MARA) surged more than 5.5%,.

But cryptocurrencies themselves are still struggling to bounce back.

Bitcoin fell more than 1% and is hovering below $39,000, while Ethereum dropped more than 1.6% to $2,400, and Dogecoin was down 1.2% to under 31 cents. 

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