- Former MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor defends Bitcoin’s energy consumption.
- Saylor states that most of Bitcoin’s energy sources are green.
- He believes switching to Proof of Stake will do nothing to reduce carbon emissions.
According to Michael Saylor, the Bitcoin network does not negatively affect the environment.
In a blog published on Wednesday, Bitcoin maximalist and MicroStrategy executive chairman said that Bitcoin mining is “the most efficient, cleanest industrial use of electricity.”
Some estimates state that Bitcoin consumes as much energy in a year as a small country. However, many who support the first cryptocurrency and its energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus method point out that much of the power comes from green sources, such as wind and solar.
Ethereum’s recent switch to a proof-of-stake consensus method is expected to alleviate many of these environmental issues. However, Saylor believes this is not so simple.
In his view, the “dedicated energy” currently powering these devices will be shifted to “generic computers,” resulting in a redistribution of efficiency that will do nothing to curb carbon emissions.
He supported Bitcoin on the grounds that it is the “cleanest industrial use of electricity” and has the “fastest rate” when it comes to improving its energy efficiency among any major industry.
He supplemented his claims with statistics from the Q2 Global Bitcoin Data Mining Review from the Bitcoin Mining Council. The council has reported that 59.5% of the energy that powers Bitcoin stems from “sustainable sources”. The report further adds that Bitcoin’s energy efficiency has also improved by 46%.
Saylor also took a dig at internet giants. According to the former CEO of MicroStrategy, the Bitcoin network is valued at $420 billion today, settles $12 billion daily ($4 trillion annually), and consumes about $4-5 billion in electricity to power and secure the network.
As a result, the output is worth one hundred times as much as the energy used to produce it. Saylor states this is much more efficient when compared to the operations of traditional internet giants like Facebook and Netflix.
Saylor continued by saying that the bitter sentiments around PoW mining serve to “distract regulators, politicians, and the general public” from proof-of-stake-based cryptocurrencies, which are “generally unregistered securities.”
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