At CoinDesk's Consensus conference earlier today, Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor defended the newly formed Bitcoin Mining Council against criticisms that it runs counter to the “decentralized” spirit of BitcoinBitcoin.
Saylor announced the council yesterday afternoon, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted about having met with “North American Bitcoin miners” about sustainability; Saylor described it as an “organization to standardize energy reporting, pursue industry ESG goals, & educate+grow the marketplace.”
“ESG” is an investing strategy centered around “environmental, social, and governance” concerns—it’s a shorthand for sustainability in the corporate sphere.
Crypto critics were quick to cry hypocrisy: Saylor and his acolytes like to say that Bitcoin is all about “decentralization”—that is, no central governing body, no oligarchic control over the system. How would consolidating power over the future of the Bitcoin ecosystem square with that mission?
And forming a cartel of US-based miners that does the bidding of @elonmusk and Michael Saylor is the next stage of decentralization? https://t.co/tNA5LHjxeN
— (((Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola))) 🌷🌷🌷 (@Frances_Coppola) May 25, 2021
Musk himself has criticized Bitcoin for being too centralized, citing an incident where a single accident in a Chinese coal mine temporarily took out around 30% of the total computing power behind the global Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin is actually highly centralized, with supermajority controlled by handful of big mining (aka hashing) companies.
A single coal mine in Xinjiang flooded, almost killing miners, and Bitcoin hash rate dropped 35%. Sound “decentralized” to you?https://t.co/Oom8yzGRNQ
Equity analysts from investment firms Benchmark and Bernstein reiterated their buy ratings and lofty price targets for Strategy (MSTR), a day after the company said that it had recorded a loss of $5.9 billion on its Bitcoin holdings in its first quarter of 2025.
The analysts highlighted Strategy’s continued strategy to purchase more Bitcoin, which has become its core business after the company pivoted from software development about five years ago.
“While the number of companies that have soug...
Riot Platforms posted mixed earnings results for the first quarter as it took steps to mitigate the effects of mining industry headwinds on its business.
The Bitcoin miner clocked $161.39 million in revenue in the three-month period ending on March 31, up 13% from the previous quarter, the firm said Thursday in a statement. That's roughly 2% above Wall Street’s expectations of $160.72 million.
The company's total revenue was largely boosted by its Bitcoin mining income, which jumped 100% in th...
Fortnite maker Epic Games’ antitrust case against Apple benefited the crypto industry on Thursday, when the iPhone maker loosened restrictions on developers’ ability to offer apps in the U.S. that direct users to non-standard purchasing methods or digital collectibles.
Apple updated its iOS App Store review guidelines after a U.S. District Judge found this week that the tech titan “willfully” violated a court injunction issued in 2021. Moving forward, the federal court prohibited Apple from coll...
