Bitcoin struggles as sellers return following brief rally

Bitcoin prices were struggling to make headway early on Tuesday afternoon following a brief spurt overnight as sellers returned to the digital currency.

At the time of writing, the digital coin is down 2.2% in the last 24 hours at US$36,881, giving it a market cap of around US$690bn.

READ: Argo Blockchain joins new Bitcoin Mining Council set up after Elon Musk call

The stalled recovery came despite a number of positive news stories overnight that saw Bitcoin reach its highest value since last Friday in the early hours of Tuesday morning before dropping back as the day progressed.

The brief rally was supported by the news that several North American Bitcoin miners had banded together to establish the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) following a meeting with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The BMC is designed to promote energy transparency and improve sustainable mining practices for Bitcoin following growing concerns about the digital currency’s carbon footprint and the amount of energy required to power its blockchain infrastructure.

These concerns came into sharp focus earlier this month when Tesla suspended the use of Bitcoin as a payment method for its vehicles.

News of the creation of the BMC has been good news for some of its members, including London-listed miner (), which in early afternoon trading surged 10.5% to 130.3p.

Alongside Argo, other firms that attended the BMC formation meeting include MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR), Holdings Ltd (TSE:GLXY), (), Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARA), HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd (CVE:HIVE), Core Scientific, Blockcap and ().

Meanwhile, the first day of the high-profile Consensus 2021 conference on Monday, hosted by crypto news site CoinDesk, also saw several high-profile players in the finance and crypto sectors publicly back crypto and Bitcoin specifically, allowing the industry to recover some credibility following last week’s market crash.

Among those backing Bitcoin at the conference was billionaire Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, who said on Monday that he would rather hold Bitcoin than a bond as a hedge against US dollar inflation, while also admitting that he already held some Bitcoin.

Crypto was also backed at the conference by Wyoming governor Mark Gordon, who said he owned cryptocurrency and that the states recent efforts to expand its broadband infrastructure was helping attract blockchain-focused firms to the Cowboy State.

GOVERNOR GORDON just confirmed that he owns #cryptocurrency personally. I didn’t know that!???????? @GovernorGordon @CoinDesk #Consensus2021 pic.twitter.com/qtaaJmpdAN

— Caitlin Long ???? (@CaitlinLong_) May 24, 2021

While Bitcoin was struggling to make headway on Tuesday afternoon, other major cryptos were faring better, with Ethereum rising 3.7% to US$2,455 while meme-inspired Dogecoin was up 1.2% at US$0.33.