Bitcoin has rallied to nearly US$40,000, boosted by tweets from Tesla founder Elon Musk and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor announcing that they have met with North American miners of the cryptocurrency to promote a renewable energy initiative.
Fast Facts:
- The price of Bitcoin has risen nearly 10% in the past 24 hours, peaking at US$39,835 following a tweet by Musk that said: “Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.”
- MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor quickly followed with his own tweet, saying he had hosted a meeting between the Tesla CEO and some Bitcoin miners — including Argo Blockchain, Galaxy Digital, Blockcap and Hive Blockchain — that led to the formation of the Bitcoin Mining Council, an initiative to promote sustainability. “The miners have agreed to form the Bitcoin Mining Council to promote energy usage transparency & accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide,” Saylor wrote.
- The news follows Musk’s comments in mid-May that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as payment, citing the environmental impact of mining it using fossil fuel-fired electricity. The announcement sparked a massive sell-off that sent Bitcoin’s price down to just above US$31,000 on Sunday.
- Bitcoin’s recovery on Monday also comes amid institutional demand and apparent support from Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, who revealed yesterday that he owns some Bitcoin.
