By Eduardo Próspero 2 July 2021 | 6:56 pm

Controversial Bitcoin Mining Council Confirms “Sustainable Power Mix”

The Bitcoin Mining Council is back at it. The controversial initiative lead by Michael Saylor presented “the findings of its first quarterly survey focused on two important metrics: electricity consumption and sustainable power mix.” The broadcast was delivered via YouTube and open to the public. They choose to limit their reproduction in other sites, though. So, embedding it is not possible.

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According to their survey, Bitcoin mining’s power mix increased to 56% sustainable energy. That figure comes from the answers from “over 32 percent of the current global Bitcoin network.” Can we trust them? Potentially. Will the anti-Bitcoin media and conflicting economic actors believe them? That’s another story altogether.

The still suspect organization was created to combat the environmental FUD spread by Elon Musk and most of the legacy media. Their reason-to-be already appeared on these pages:

The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) stated that its purpose is not to be a regulating body of any kind. They are not here to tell anybody what to do. It is to be a forum that is open to all miners. There is no fee required to join. The members just have to agree to be transparent about their energy mix and hash rate sizes for research and educational purposes.

However, the Bitcoin community remains skeptical. The smell of centralization is not tolerated, and these types of organizations tend towards that direction. Is this an open group or a private country club? On the other hand, other members of the community think that “Bitcoin doesn’t care” and that everyone is free to do as they please.

To combat all those narratives, the Bitcoin Mining Council started to hold its meetings out in the open… but always retaining a little bit of that behind-closed-doors allure. 

I.E. YOU are the “general public.”

As Mines Leave China, The Bitcoin Mining Council Attacks

One of the main arguments against the Bitcoin community’s claims that their mining is one of the cleanest industries in the world was China. An estimated 60% of the miners were located in the region, and even though Nic Carter went to great lengths to prove that they were mostly using green energy, the anti-Bitcoin media didn’t believe it. Because they didn’t trust data from China.

Well, the Chinese Government banned Bitcoin mining. As NewsBTC reported, the great miners’ migration is well underway.

Tons and tons of mining equipment are currently traveling to their new homes. There are reports of a huge operation in Kazhakstan, a neighboring nation of China. There are also rumors of equipment and personnel already settling down in Texas. The US state is making a push to become a Bitcoin mining capital, and apparently, the efforts already bore fruit. 

Related Reading | Saylor: North American Bitcoin Miners To Form Coalition After Meeting With Elon Musk

About this fact, the Bitcoin Mining Council’s press release says:

Darin Feinstein, founder of Blockcap and Core Scientific, noted that the survey comes at a pivotal moment as the Bitcoin industry sees its mining operations further decentralized as a result of miners leaving China. “Despite China shutting down over 60 percent 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.”

BTCUSD price chart for 07/02/2021 - TradingView

BTC price chart on Bitbay | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

The BMC Survey Results For Q2 2021 

The good news is, there’s data to show that Bitcoin’s “mining electricity mix increased to 56% sustainable in Q2 2021.” Is that data valid? That’s another question altogether. The Bitcoin Mining Council elaborates on the results:

The results of this survey show that the members of the BMC and participants in the survey are currently utilizing electricity with a 67% sustainable power mix. Based on this data it is estimated that the global mining industry’s sustainable electricity mix had grown to approximately 56 percent, during Q2 2021

So yeah, the figures are estimations and the data comes from a voluntary survey. We’ll have to wait and see how the story and figures evolve once the China miners find their new homes.

For more information about the Bitcoin Mining Council, go here.

Featured Image by Bitcoin Mining Council | Charts by TradingView