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The Bitcoin Mining Council created to fight misinformation with regards to the Bitcoin mining debate has been working diligently on getting data on how much sustainable energy is being used. This major survey involved 32% of the current global Bitcoin network, which focused on two key metrics electricity consumption and sustainable power mix, which refers to the combination of sources used to generate electricity.
What is the Bitcoin Mining Council?
The Bitcoin Mining Council(BMC)is an open forum for avid miners of Bitcoin to get together and share information on best practices while educating the general public on what is going on with Bitcoin. The BMC was created after Michael Saylor held a meeting that involved Noth American miners and Elon Musk to discuss the energy concerns of the public after Elon Musk’s tweet, which sparked this whole debate. It intends to gather miners that are involved in Bitcoin mining who are willing to share their hash rate size, which is the amount of computational power being used to mine Bitcoin and energy mix, thus making Bitcoin energy consumption as transparent as possible. In addition to companies that also contribute to the Council like Ankr, Argo Blockchain, MicroStrategy, Bit5ive LLC, Bitfarms, Galaxy Digital, Bitquest, BitRiver, and Blockcap to name a few. The BMC holds a quarterly meetup to discuss the trajectory of Bitcoin and other things like presenting data about mining. There are some concerns regarding the council as to the size of the council and its ability to account for data from all over the world, but it is important to consider that the organization has been formed very recently, and it has still provided some great data that has provided a strong foundation for the community as a whole.
It also makes it very clear about Elon musk not having anything to do with the BMC, which I found hilarious, after all, it was created because of his actions.
The community has seemingly turned against him after his disregard for any valuable change within the industry and adding more volatility to an already fluctuating market. He also doesn’t seem to understand or ignores the amount of influence he holds over the market as a whole which has made a lot of people lose faith in cryptocurrencies.
What does the BMC’s data say about Bitcoin-mining concerns?
The BMC was very proud to present its first quarterly report that its members were using energy with a 67% sustainable power mix while the global Bitcoin Network was using electricity with a sustainable power mix of 56%, which is more than the United States, EU, Germany, and Canada. This means that Bitcoin mining utilizes more sustainable energy, whereas countries are relying on fossil fuels or other non-renewable sources to a higher degree to fulfill their needs.
Something that kept being brought up among critics of Bitcoin was that the energy being acquired even though renewable, was still a lot. This graph completely throws that narrative out of the window as it barely makes 0.1% of the world’s total energy. It is also reassuring that 0.4% of the world’s energy that would probably never be used is being utilized by Bitcoin mining.
Even when you compare the two surveys, the difference is massive in sustainable energy usage and hashrate size, and this is just the beginning. Companies are also on the hunt for cheaper and renewable alternatives to traditional fossil fuels. It is important to note that the report was based on a three-question survey of 32% of the miners on the network, according to Cointelegraph.
Daron Feinstein, a key member of the BMC and also the founder of Blockcap, has mentioned how Bitcoin has continued to triumph despite China shutting down over 60% of the global Bitcoin network, it has experienced zero downtime and has registered no bankruptcies. Bitcoin’s big crackdown in China will also play a big role as we will see more miners in America using more sustainable energy instead of coal or other fossil fuels. The hashrate drop of 50% is going to see great recovery and will also increase the percentage of sustainable energy used in the next survey. We will probably see a big hashrate recovery followed by more sustainable energy usage in the near future.
PUBLISHED BY
DWAYNE D’CUNHA, WRITER ON MEDIUM.
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