Michael Saylor’s Recent Explanation About Bitcoin Is the Most Important in History
It would help if you looked at the whole picture.
Source — YouTube
Michael Saylor is a well-known businessman and inventor.
He’s also the Chairman of MicroStrategy, a company he founded in 1989.
Saylor is known for his work in technology and has even won a $10 million contract with McDonald’s to develop applications to analyse the efficiency of their promotions.
Saylor and MicroStrategy have faced some controversy in the past.
In 2000, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought accounting charges against Saylor and two other company executives, causing the company’s stock to plummet in value and Saylor’s net worth to fall by $6 billion.
He paid the SEC $350,000 in penalties but never admitted wrongdoing.
In 2022, things got worse for Saylor when the Attorney General for the District of Columbia sued him for alleged tax fraud, accusing him of illegally avoiding $25 million in taxes by pretending he lived in another state.
D.C. accused MicroStrategy of collaborating with Saylor to facilitate his tax evasion by lying about his address.
In response to the controversy surrounding allegations of tax fraud, Michael Saylor stated,
“I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.”
Despite any past controversies, the Bitcoin community loves Saylor for his commitment to the future of Bitcoin and his willingness to speak out against governments and financial institutions.
Saylor has also made a positive impact through his non-profit organisation, Saylor Academy, where he has provided free education to over 1 million students.
In his recent statement on Michael.com, Saylor strongly refuted the White House’s Executive order on Bitcoin’s environmental impacts, which suggested a ban on proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining.
Saylor’s response to this report is particularly significant in Bitcoin’s history.
Here’s What the Whitehouse Had To Say About Bitcoin.
The White House stated that the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are working to track the environmental impacts of digital assets and will provide local authorities with resources to mitigate any ecological harm.
They also said using electricity for crypto-assets can negatively impact the environment by emitting greenhouse gases, straining electricity grids, and causing noise and water pollution in some local communities.
Whitehouse Report:
“Powering crypto-assets can take a large amount of electricity — emitting greenhouse gases, strain electricity grids, and harm some local communities with noise and water pollution.
Opportunities exist to align the development of digital assets with transitioning to a net-zero emissions economy and improving environmental justice.”
The Whitehouse report subtly referenced the negative environmental impacts of the Proof-Of-Work model.
Bitcoin now dominates 95% of the POW market after the Ethereum merger changed its Blockchain to a Proof-of-stake model.
Surprisingly President Joe Biden is an advocate for the future of Cryptocurrency.
Or so he says, but he also took swipes at Bitcoin.
Joe Biden:
“Cryptocurrencies can be important for the future of the U.S. economy, and not just for the rich investors but middle and working class.”
Biden had reservations about the perceived energy cost baked into Proof-of-work digital currencies like Bitcoin, which offer miners block rewards for mining Bitcoin.
The White House said if measures to make mining greener don’t work, energy-intensive crypto mining, namely Bitcoin mining, could be banned altogether.
“Should these measures prove ineffective at reducing impacts, the Administration should explore executive actions, and Congress might consider legislation to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining.”
Michael Saylor's Emphatic Reply
In response to the White House’s Cryptocurrency Climate and Energy report, Michael Saylor gave an emphatic reply, pointing out how the report was misinformed and aimed at undermining Bitcoin for political and financial reasons.
Saylor argued that the report showed a lack of understanding and was motivated by a desire to appear “woke.”
He also addressed the environmental claims made in the report in an open letter.
Michael Saylor:
“To Journalists, Investors, Regulators, & Anyone Else Interested in Bitcoin & the Environment,
Bitcoin mining is the most efficient, cleanest industrial use of electricity and is improving its energy efficiency at the fastest rate across any major industry.”
Our metrics show ~59.5% of energy for bitcoin mining comes from sustainable sources, and energy efficiency improved 46% YoY. No other industry comes close.”
The bitcoin network keeps getting more energy efficient because of the relentless improvement in the semiconductors that power the bitcoin mining centres, combined with the halving of bitcoin mining rewards built into the protocol every four years.”
This results in a consistent 18–36% improvement year after year in energy efficiency. More details on this are included in the BMC Presentation.”
The statements made by Michael Saylor can be confirmed on the Bitcoin Mining Council’s website and raise questions.
He asks what benchmark the government uses to assess Bitcoin mining’s environmental impact.
In a YouTube interview, Saylor used simple, child-like analogies to explain complex ideas, as is characteristic of a quirky genius.
“Bitcoin is bad for the environment like Oranges, meat, buildings, and cars are bad for the environment.
They all use energy. Hospitals use energy.
If I went to you and said, I’m going to eliminate your hospital and replace it with an imaginary one which will lower the cost of health care.
And we’ll fix your avatar up, and whenever your avatar has an imaginary heart attack, we’ll give it fictional surgery and then you’ll go home imaginary happy.
You could do it, but it’s ridiculous.”
Michael Saylor believes Bitcoin should be compared to other significant industries and evaluated based on all relevant factors.
He views Bitcoin as a way to give economic power to all 8 billion people and believes Bitcoin should be treated equally with other major industries.
Saylor also thinks that Bitcoin is much more advanced than any other industry and is constantly improving.
According to the Bitcoin Mining Council, the energy used for global Bitcoin mining is similar to the energy used for holiday Christmas lights and less than half the energy used for gold mining.
Final Thoughts
The main question is whether the benefits of using Bitcoin to empower the global economy are worth the energy needed.
According to Saylor, the answer is a strong yes.
We need more people like Saylor to question and challenge conventional wisdom.
Some people believe that Bitcoin can empower individuals and communities by providing a secure means of financial transactions, while others are concerned about the environmental impact of the energy used for mining.
The question of whether the energy costs of Bitcoin are justified will depend on your values and priorities.