I don’t blame you if you had a hard time following a recent Twitter exchange between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Here’s a translation: Elon is planning to sit down with Jack to talk about Bitcoin at an upcoming Bitcoin event called ‘The B Word’, and the conversation will likely revolve around Bitcoin’s energy use.
The B Word was put together by ARK Invest and Square, and is described as “a Bitcoin focused initiative that aims to demystify and destigmatize mainstream narratives about Bitcoin, explain how institutions can and should embrace it, and raise awareness around areas of the network that need support.”
“As more companies and institutions get into the mix, we all want to help protect and spread what makes #bitcoin open development so perfect,” Jack wrote on Twitter.
Featured speakers at the event include Jack, Adam Back, Michael Morell, John Newberry, and ARK Invest’s Cathy Wood. ARK is a large shareholder of Tesla, making Elon’s now-scheduled appearance make sense in that way.
Elon and Jack had a confusing back and forth, which seemed to mix some sex jokes with the stigma of Bitcoin adoption, and ended with Elon and Jack sealing the deal on a chat at the event.
What will Elon and Jack be talking about? To take a stab at that you’re going to need some background on the Elon/Jack/Bitcoin/Energy situation.
It goes back to a tweet where Elon responded “True” to another tweet from Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, where Dorsey said Bitcoin incentivizes investment in renewable energy. Dorsey linked a whitepaper from Square Crypto and ARK Invest that argued Bitcoin is a “key driver of renewable energy’s future”. Elon seemed to agree.
Then, in May, Tesla, which just two months prior added the option to buy a Tesla with Bitcoin, walked back that decision. Why? Elon cited concerns about “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.”
Expect this drama and Elon’s ongoing skepticism about Bitcoin’s energy use to be central to the conversation.