Earlier this year, Tesla started accepting Bitcoin as a payment option for its vehicles. That has now changed. Earlier this afternoon, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, put out a statement on Twitter about Tesla and Bitcoin. He announced that Tesla suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin and pointed out that the increasing use of fossil fuels for mining and transactions was the reason. He also stated that Tesla was looking at other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of Bitcoin’s relative energy use. Oddly, right before he tweeted, I was sent one such cryptocurrency to write about and I’ll share that below. First, here’s Elon and Tesla’s full statement:
“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.
“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 a more sustainable energy. We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”
Goodbye, Bitcoin. Photo by Chanan Bos, CleanTechnica.
This follows criticism that Elon and Tesla have received for accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for a Tesla. CleanTechnica wrote a long piece on the extremely high environmental cost of Bitcoin in February: “Why Bitcoin Truly Is Bad For The Climate & Environment, And Counter To Tesla’s Mission.” We also wrote a deep, deep, deep dive on Bitcoin here: “How Does Bitcoin Work? What Is Bitcoin Mining? What Is Bitcoin Backed By?”
Upon this announcement, many people on both sides of the coin voiced their thoughts. Feel free to voice your own down in the comments.
Will Tesla turn right or left on cryptocurrencies? Or will it just turn around? Photo by Chanan Bos, CleanTechnica.
Could Tesla Start Accepting Dogecoin?
Elon’s support of Dogecoin hasn’t gone unnoticed. In fact, I think it’s affected the price. He recently shared a poll asking folks if we wanted Tesla to accept Doge. I voted yes because I think its story of being a meme crypto with no value to being so popular and loved is unique and fun. (Disclaimer: I have shares in Tesla and a stake in Bitcoin and Doge.)
Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2021
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