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- Elon Musk met with leading Bitcoin miners to discuss the environmental impact of their industry.
- In a tweet, the Tesla CEO called the proposed next steps "potentially promising."
- Bitcoin prices shot up after Musk's tweet from about $38,000 to a peak of $39,600.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Elon Musk joined a discussion among leading Bitcoin miners centered around ways to improve the cryptocurrency's environmental impact, the Tesla CEO tweeted on Monday.
-Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2021
MicroStrategy founder and CEO Michael Saylor said he convened industry leaders including Blockcap, Hut 8, Marathon Digital Holdings, and Riot Blockchain to discuss forming an organization that would establish reporting standards and ESG goals for mining. The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"The miners have agreed to form the Bitcoin Mining Council to promote energy usage transparency & accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide," Saylor said in a tweet.
Bitcoin prices popped from about $38,000 to a peak of $39,600 after Musk's initial tweet, before sliding back down below $39,000.
MicroStrategy holds roughly 21,000 bitcoin as part of its treasury reserve policy, which was worth roughly $2 billion in April, according to its first-quarter financial disclosures.
The price of the currency has been especially volatile this month after Musk expressed concerns about the environmental impact of crypto mining and said Tesla would no longer accept the currency for car sales.
In a response to Saylor's tweet, Texas-based miner Blockcap highlighted its use of clean energy, saying that "56% of our electricity comes from carbon-free sources, & we will continue to work together with energy innovators & providers to constantly increase that amount."
Marathon Digital Holdings Executive Chairman tweeted , "As a founding member of the Bitcoin Mining Council, @MarathonDH will do our part to contribute to sustainable mining and transparency."
Bitcoin mining consumes over 113 terawatt hours per year, slightly more than the country of the Netherlands at 110 terawatt hours, according to a real-time estimate from the University of Cambridge's Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.