The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC), a coalition of miners and public companies, held its first formal meeting on Wednesday with MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor as convener.

The Council aims to counter the misinformation about Bitcoin amid a growing debate over the amount of energy used in mining the cryptocurrency.

The meeting was held on Twitter Spaces and attended by more than 7,000 listeners. Industry representatives spoke on the prevalent narratives that Bitcoin mining is bad for the environment.

Perianne Boring, president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, pointed to the narratives circulating in the media, noting that these subsequently fuel public policies, so it needs to be addressed.

“We really sounded the alarm towards the end of 2020 when we saw a huge outtake in negative reporting of Bitcoin mining. A lot of it is not intellectually honest. When you have a number of stories and headlines, misinformation, false narratives, we will see reactions to that from a policy perspective.”

Saylor's statements were similar as he said the problem isn't Bitcoiners but those negative headlines about mining.

He noted that the Bitcoin Mining Council's responsibility is to provide a cooperative and informative space where people can learn the benefits of Bitcoin mining.

The Council first came into the limelight when the Microstrategy CEO convened a meeting with North American Bitcoin miners alongside industry leaders, including Blackcap, Hut 8, Marathon Digital Holdings, and Riot Blockchain.

The meeting was held to discuss forming an organization that would establish reporting standards and ESG goals for mining. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also joined the discussion and met with Bitcoin miners to discuss the environmental impact of their industry.

Saylor later announced in a tweet that the miners agreed to form the Council to promote energy usage transparency & accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide.

However, last week the Bitcoin Mining Council dispelled any relationship with Musk on its website by explaining that he would not be joining the team in any official capacity. According to them, the extent of his involvement was only to discuss with the group of North American miners last month.

While Musk was expected to be a part of the council, it's not surprising to see him get sidelined. The Tesla CEO suspended Bitcoin payments for its products due to environmental concerns and is known for using his tweets to create volatility in the markets.

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.

The high energy usage of Bitcoin has become more of an issue in recent times, especially since Elon Musk suspended Tesla payments in Bitcoin.

Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren blasted Bitcoin's energy consumption during a Senate Banking subcommittee hearing on CBDCs. She also called for the crackdown of the “environmentally wasteful cryptocurrency.”

Environmental groups are also becoming more conscious of Bitcoin's high energy consumption. Last month, Greenpeace USA stopped accepting Bitcoin donations over the cryptocurrency's carbon footprint.

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