MicroStrategy buying coins to save the market? CEO clashes with Musk, calling PoW an engineering masterpiece

Bitcoin has been below $60,000 for almost a month now, and just as it was starting to recover, the news of Elon Musk suspending Bitcoin payments hit the market once again. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy, which had been quiet for a while, finally made a move by purchasing $15 million worth of Bitcoin. Founder Michael Saylor also released a lengthy statement emphasizing the importance of Bitcoin mining mechanism to counter Elon Musk's energy consumption argument.

MicroStrategy Buys Another 271 Bitcoins

In breaking news last night, MicroStrategy once again purchased Bitcoin. As of now, their holdings are as follows:

• 5/13: Bought 271 Bitcoins for $15 million, average price of $55,387 per BTC
• Total holdings: 91,850 Bitcoins
• Total cost: $2.241 billion
• Average price: $24,403

Clash with Musk

On the morning of 5/13, Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin payments due to the energy consumption in mining. Michael Saylor promptly responded, stating, "The energy consumption of Bitcoin is used to maintain network security, and the impact of fossil fuels will diminish over time."

Later that evening, Musk referenced data from the University of Cambridge on energy consumption, saying:

The energy usage over the past few months has been insane.

Saylor cited the same data and said, "As the Bitcoin network grows by 100%, energy consumption grows by 40%, indicating an improvement in energy efficiency. The larger the scale, the less energy consumption."

Musk remained silent and instead referenced three recent articles:

• 4/21: How much Bitcoin comes from dirty coal? Xinjiang mines in China highlight this issue
• 5/11: Private firm revives abandoned fossil fuel power plant for Bitcoin mining
• 5/12: Some states lure miners to keep their coal plants running

Proof of Work (PoW) is an Engineering Masterpiece

Michael Saylor believes that mining is the underlying technology of the currency network, crucial for network growth and stability, and points out that Proof of Work (PoW) is an engineering masterpiece. Through consensus mechanisms and real-world anchoring, it provides seven security layers:

Energy

Miners can monetize different forms of energy at the highest price anytime, anywhere. Companies are eager to sell energy to miners, their largest wholesale customers, giving Bitcoin the advantage of low energy costs.

Technology

Companies are developing and offering miners efficient mining equipment. Miners must continuously upgrade to remain competitive, significantly raising the barrier to entry and bringing discipline to network stability.

Politics

Federal, municipal, and state governments are working to attract global miners to create employment opportunities, tax revenue, capital, and energy demand.

Finance

Mining is capital-intensive, making it an attractive investment opportunity for traditional debt and equity investors.

Mining

As mining firms mature and go public, they become strong network advocates, Bitcoin buyers, and holders.

Space

These factors will drive geographical decentralization of miners, the best defense against any Bitcoin attack.

Time

It takes 2 to 4 years to allocate a large amount of energy, capital, technology, and mining resources to potentially launch an attack on Bitcoin. It is extremely difficult, expensive, cannot be done in secret, and the crypto industry has enough time to respond.