Bitcoin Mining Council To Report Renewable Energy Usage

A new Bitcoin Mining Council has been created to improve the crypto-currency's sustainability, following a meeting of 'leading' Bitcoin miners and Elon Musk. The BBC reports: It's hoped the council will 'promote energy usage transparency' and encourage miners to use renewable sources. According to a tweet by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who convened the meeting of the group and Elon Musk, the council includes 'the leading Bitcoin miners in North America.' But research from a group of universities suggested that China accounted for more than 75% of Bitcoin mining as of April 2020. The authors estimated that 40% of China's Bitcoin mines were powered by coal.

[T]he group needs to do more than 'disclosing and promoting the use of renewables,' Alex de Vries of the website Digiconomist told the BBC. 'Even if we had disclosure, that doesn't change the natural incentive of these miners to search out the cheapest and most constant sources of power - which typically comes down to (obsolete) fossil fuels,' he said. 'Kentucky even came up with a tax break for Bitcoin miners to come and use their obsolete coalfields. So, I'm not seeing this trend towards more renewables.' However council member Peter Wall, Chief Executive of Argo, argued that increasingly US Bitcoin miners were choosing renewable power. He felt the council could encourage change.'It's early days, it's embryonic. There will be lots of discussions moving forward about the best way to promote sustainable Bitcoin mining and to do it not just in North America,' he said.

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