Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for vehicles – news that has caused the price of the cryptocurrency to crash as much as 15%.
[Tweet “Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for vehicles – news that has caused the price of the cryptocurrency to cash as much as 15%.”]
“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin,” writes Musk, “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emission of any fuel.”
“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 & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021
Musk goes on to say that “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.”
According to Bloomberg, Musks’ move is a “step in the wrong direction for Bitcoin bulls as well as for stock investors betting on the digital currency. Tesla’s disclosure in February that it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and would accept it as a payment, added legitimacy to the cryptocurrency. It was the most visible catalyst during this year’s rally in the digital currency”.
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