A few days back, Tesla has announced that it will not accept Bitcoin anymore in its vehicle purchase. The world-leading automaker said that the company is committed to saving the environment. According to Elon Musk’s tweet on Wednesday, due to the exponential use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining, it has become a threat to the environment.
Tesla Changes Stand about Cryptocurrencies
It was January when Tesla confirmed that it has invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin. Not only the investment, but Tesla also announced that it will accept bitcoin as a payment to buy its electronic vehicles. The company even started accepting bitcoin in the US and said that it will also enable the same payment method worldwide in the coming months.
In an SEC filing in February, the company further stated that it will invest more in cryptocurrencies in the coming days.
A recent announcement against Cryptocurrency is a surprising move by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla.
As soon as Musk posted a tweet against Cryptocurrency on Wednesday, Bitcoin price saw a 5% decline within few minutes.
Elon Musk continuously supported cryptocurrencies on his Twitter handle. Dogecoin, a meme-based Cryptocurrency, saw an exponential surge due to his tweets. Plenty of investors believed in his words and invested millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies.
Given below is the full announcement posted by Elon Musk on his Twitter handle:
“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions 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.”
He further stated:
“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.”
What do other Investors say about Cryptocurrencies?
A few months back, big investors and corporate firms including Tesla, Square, Metromile, and Nexon have supported bitcoin and called digital currency the future of transactions. They all were against the central banks that print money and imbalance the environment. Tesla started accepting bitcoin as payment for automobile purchases.
Due to the immense popularity of cryptocurrencies, Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley provided bitcoin exposures to their major clients.
But some investors, like Softbank founder Masayoshi Son, still have reservations about the future of cryptocurrencies.
At a recent earnings conference Son said:
“There’s a lot of discussion over if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, what’s the true value or is it in a bubble. Honestly speaking, I don’t know.”
But some investors are still supporting cryptocurrencies. And they will continue to do so in the future as well. Mark Cuban, the owner of Dallas Mavericks, is one such example of bitcoin support.
Replying to Elon Musk tweet, Mark said:
“The team will continue to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies because “we know that replacing Gold as a store of value will help the environment.”
