The crypto markets are reeling after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the car giant will no longer accept Bitcoin for purchases.
Musk cites concerns over Bitcoin’s use of energy as the reason for the sudden change.
“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.”
Musk says the company is considering other crypto assets that consume less power.
Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.
Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”
Tesla began accepting Bitcoin back in February. That same month, Tesla announced it purchased $1.5 billion worth of BTC.
Bitcoin’s use of energy has been a hot-button issue in 2021.
Payments company Square and ARK Invest recently put out a whitepaper arguing that Bitcoin incentivizes renewable energy. At the time, Musk said he agreed with the assessment.
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