The Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that the electric vehicle manufacturer will no longer accept Bitcoin payments for its car purchases. The sudden U-turn by one of the world’s most influential people in the tech space was rationalized on concerns about the environmental impact of the crypto industry.
Elon intimated that his organization has noted the lack of energy sustainability in how Bitcoin is mined and transacted, citing the massive exploitation of fossil fuels to keep the crypto functional. The main issue of concern was the notable employment of coal, which is among the worst polluting raw materials on earth, in the industry.
Further, Elon cited a data-based chart from the University of Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance indicating just how much of an energy hog cryptocurrencies are. In a Twitter thread published by Elon himself, the Tesla boss referred to the crypto industry’s energy usage trend as “insane”.
The latest announcement is a sharp contrast from the last time Tesla made their first go at the crypto sector. Just 3 months ago, the firm had resolved to accept Bitcoin payments and reported that it had bought a $1.5 billion stash of Bitcoin.
Then, the decision had significant effects on the general value of Bitcoin as more investors gained confidence in the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The latest turnaround by Elon Musk, who has always been a proponent of both Bitcoin and Dogecoin, challenges the fact that he has always thrived in controversy and managed to stay clear of coming under public pressure.
It comes as no surprise that the Tesla CEO chose to denounce Bitcoin, considering that his organization is built on the concept of environmental sustainability through reduced carbon emissions.
Expectedly, Bitcoin dropped 17 percent to a 2.5 month low on May 13 following Elon’s tweet. It registered a value of $45,700 that has been said to be the lowest level since the beginning of March.
An article by Reuters reported that the Bitcoin price then steadies at $49,312 in Asia on Friday. In addition to Elon’s remarks, the same media outlet reported that Bitcoin’s drop was also attributed to a regulatory probe that had been launched into the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Binance.
Elon Is Not Alone
Bitcoin’s energy-intensive mining and transactional needs, which are based on how the blockchain system works, have led to widespread concerns about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
Not too long ago, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a warning about Bitcoin’s “extreme inefficiency” in light of the digital asset’s requirement for massive amounts of power.
Expert critics have not been shy to cite the staggering numbers that describe crypto energy consumption. The figures provided by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index have shown that transactions and mining of digital assets account for more energy needs than entire countries like Sweden and Malaysia.
Further, Carol Alexander, a scholar at the University of Sussex Business School, asserts that bitcoin’s energy requirements have been rising significantly over the last years. The increasing energy requirements are reflected on the crypto’s mining “difficulty”, a term used to describe the computational effort required to mine the virtual currency.
At this point, even though it’s difficult to fully explicate the energy mix that enables the Bitcoin industry, a number of crypto commentators have claimed that miners are currently being incentivized to employ renewable energy sources.
The sentiment is pegged on current realities that renewable energy production keeps getting cheaper each year. In China, the Sichuan province has become a hotbed of crypto mining activity due to its relatively cheap electricity and the availability of robust hydroelectric power resources.
The Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that the electric vehicle manufacturer will no longer accept Bitcoin payments for its car purchases. The sudden U-turn by one of the world’s most influential people in the tech space was rationalized on concerns about the environmental impact of the crypto industry.
Elon intimated that his organization has noted the lack of energy sustainability in how Bitcoin is mined and transacted, citing the massive exploitation of fossil fuels to keep the crypto functional. The main issue of concern was the notable employment of coal, which is among the worst polluting raw materials on earth, in the industry.
Further, Elon cited a data-based chart from the University of Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance indicating just how much of an energy hog cryptocurrencies are. In a Twitter thread published by Elon himself, the Tesla boss referred to the crypto industry’s energy usage trend as “insane”.
The latest announcement is a sharp contrast from the last time Tesla made their first go at the crypto sector. Just 3 months ago, the firm had resolved to accept Bitcoin payments and reported that it had bought a $1.5 billion stash of Bitcoin.
Then, the decision had significant effects on the general value of Bitcoin as more investors gained confidence in the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The latest turnaround by Elon Musk, who has always been a proponent of both Bitcoin and Dogecoin, challenges the fact that he has always thrived in controversy and managed to stay clear of coming under public pressure.
It comes as no surprise that the Tesla CEO chose to denounce Bitcoin, considering that his organization is built on the concept of environmental sustainability through reduced carbon emissions.
Expectedly, Bitcoin dropped 17 percent to a 2.5 month low on May 13 following Elon’s tweet. It registered a value of $45,700 that has been said to be the lowest level since the beginning of March.
An article by Reuters reported that the Bitcoin price then steadies at $49,312 in Asia on Friday. In addition to Elon’s remarks, the same media outlet reported that Bitcoin’s drop was also attributed to a regulatory probe that had been launched into the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Binance.
Elon Is Not Alone
Bitcoin’s energy-intensive mining and transactional needs, which are based on how the blockchain system works, have led to widespread concerns about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
Not too long ago, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a warning about Bitcoin’s “extreme inefficiency” in light of the digital asset’s requirement for massive amounts of power.
Expert critics have not been shy to cite the staggering numbers that describe crypto energy consumption. The figures provided by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index have shown that transactions and mining of digital assets account for more energy needs than entire countries like Sweden and Malaysia.
Further, Carol Alexander, a scholar at the University of Sussex Business School, asserts that bitcoin’s energy requirements have been rising significantly over the last years. The increasing energy requirements are reflected on the crypto’s mining “difficulty”, a term used to describe the computational effort required to mine the virtual currency.
At this point, even though it’s difficult to fully explicate the energy mix that enables the Bitcoin industry, a number of crypto commentators have claimed that miners are currently being incentivized to employ renewable energy sources.
The sentiment is pegged on current realities that renewable energy production keeps getting cheaper each year. In China, the Sichuan province has become a hotbed of crypto mining activity due to its relatively cheap electricity and the availability of robust hydroelectric power resources.
