Michael Saylor criticizes “misinformation” about Bitcoin’s energy use

by · September 15, 2022

Ahead of Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake (PoS), Bitcoin (BTC) maximalist Michael Saylor has spoken out against what he says is “misinformation and propaganda” about the environmental impacts of proof-of-work (PoW) BTC- mining.

The executive chairman of MicroStrategy, who recently stepped down as CEO, shared a lengthy post on his Twitter account on Wednesday, detailing seven of his “high-level thoughts” on BTC mining and its impact on the environment.

One of his main arguments was against the notion that PoW BTC mining is not energy efficient.

Instead, Saylor claims it is the “cleanest industrial use of electricity and is improving energy efficiency at the fastest rate of any major industry.”

He backed his argument with figures taken from the Q2 Global Bitcoin Data Mining Review published in July by the Bitcoin Mining Council, a group of 45 companies that claim to represent 50.5% of the global network, noting:

“Our calculations show that ~59.5% of bitcoin mining energy comes from sustainable sources, and energy efficiency improved by 46% year-on-year.”

Saylor’s argument comes as the BTC mining industry has received a lot of pressure over its alleged impact on the environment, which has even led certain US states to take steps to ban crypto mining.

Saylor claims that constant improvements to the network and “relentless improvement of the semiconductors” make mining far more energy efficient than big tech companies like Google, Netflix or Facebook.

“About $4-5 billion in electricity is used to operate and secure a network that is worth $420 billion as of today,” Saylor claimed:

“This makes Bitcoin far less energy intensive than Google, Netflix or Facebook, and 1-2 orders of magnitude less energy intensive than traditional 20th century industries such as airlines, logistics, retail, hospitality and agriculture.”

Saylor also claimed that 99.92% of carbon emissions in the world are due to industrial use of energy other than bitcoin mining.

Looking at the numbers, Saylor doesn’t think environmentalist arguments condemning PoW mining are fair.

Rather, in his opinion, it is an attempt to “focus negative attention on Proof-of-Work mining” and distract authorities from the “inconvenient truth that Proof-of-Stake crypto-assets are generally unregistered securities traded on unregulated stock exchanges.”

In one of the more high-profile legal cases at the moment, Ripple is involved in a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly conducting an unregistered securities sale in the form of Ripple’s XRP.

Related: Michael Saylor Wrecked, But Bitcoin Investors Don’t Panic

Finally, Saylor says that all the negativity towards PoW mining distracts from the possible benefits to the world.

“Bitcoin mining can bring a clean, profitable and modern industry that generates hard currency to remote locations in developing countries, connected only by satellite connection.”