Michael Saylor discussed what he perceives as the biggest risk to Bitcoin, and it’s not to do with environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factors.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
ESG refers to a set of standards that investors use to determine how a particular company stacks up in terms of social responsibility.
Environmental criteria look at how a company performs in relation to ecological concerns. Social criteria examine how it manages dealings with employees, suppliers, customers, and communities. While governance refers to how an entity handles leadership, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.
Off the back of Elon Musk’s environmental concerns around proof-of-work mining, some have tried to shoehorn ESG onto Bitcoin. However, the concept is better suited for use in relation to a public company.
While there is overlap, in publically traded companies buying, selling, and holding BTC, ESG, as it relates to Bitcoin, is still an ill-fitting abstraction.
ESG activism not a threat to Bitcoin
The first open Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) meeting took place earlier this week. The event featured guest speakers discussing industry trends, as well as a Q&A segment.
When Saylor was asked about Bitcoin as a going concern due to ESG, he sees this as low on the list of threats.
“I don’t actually think that the threat to Bitcoin is gonna be ESG activism directed at publically traded companies. I don’t think that’s the worry,” he said.
In explaining why he holds this view, he dismissed “social” on the grounds that BTC is empowering. In terms of “governance,” he made the point that there is no Bitcoin leadership team.
“We know, with regard to social goals, Bitcoin is empowerment to eight billion people on the planet of property rights. And with regard to governance, there is no governance because there is no board and there is no CEO and no management team of Bitcoin. You couldn’t govern it if you wanted to.”
However, when it came to “environment,” Saylor was less convincing. He sees the environmental threat coming from a media-driven narrative that turns negative. Thus, in turn, creating a political drive forcing legislative action from a nation-state.
Saylor rounded off by saying the biggest risk to Bitcoin is ignorance, driven by the mainstream media, not direct environmentally sustainable factors themselves.
The goals of the BMC include promoting transparency and better education around BTC mining. Saylor said he intends to use the platform to take control of the Bitcoin narrative from “uninformed parties.”
