Elon Musk’s Tesla Suspends Bitcoin (BTC) Payments, Sends BTC Price Under $50,000
In a major twist, Tesla has decided to suspend Bitcoin (BTC) payments at the company within two months of announcing this facility in late March 2021. Earlier today, Tesla boss Elon Musk shared an image highlighting Tesla’s decision.
The major reason behind this is that Bitcoin transactions consume a lot of energy and isn’t good for the environment. It looks like after promoting Bitcoin (BTC) all through the last few months, Tesla has a change of heart all of a sudden! However, it makes sense in a way considering the primary goal of the company has been reducing the carbon footprint through electric energy.
The tweet from Elon Musk reads: “Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapid increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel”.
This decision from Tesla sent the Bitcoin (BTC) price crashing over 10% and moving under $50,000 levels. Well, this resulted into a spiral effect dragging the overall cryptocurrency market down. In hours after Elon Musk’s tweet, the crypto market lost a massive $300 billion.
But it is important to note that despite suspending Bitcoin (BTC) payments at Tesla, the company hasn’t denounced it completely. The messages further reads: “Tesla won’t be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transactions to more sustainable energy. We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”
Speaking about Bitcoin (BTC), the company added that the cryptocurrency is a good idea and Tesla believes in its promising future. Interestingly, Tesla’s decision of suspending Bitcoin payments comes just a day after Elon Musk asked his Twitter followers whether if they would like to see Dogecoin payments at Tesla.
Nearly 4 million people voted for the poll with a massive 78% saying yes. Interestingly, the latest message from Tesla also states that they “are looking at other cryptocurrencies”. Looking at how Elon Musk has been aggressively promoting Dogecoin over the last few months, it won’t be a surprise if Tesla includes Dogecoin (DOGE) payments going ahead.
Well, it is clear that even with the corporate adoption, Bitcoin (BTC) is seen more as a store-of-value rather than a medium of transaction. On the other hand, the fact remains that Bitcoin mining consumes a lot of electric energy. The Bitcoin mining operations worldwide have contributed to millions of tons of CO2 emissions, however, miners are looking for renewable energy options as well.