Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a drastic decrease in price to just about $45,000 following the announcement by Tesla CEO Elon Musk that the company shall no longer be accepting BTC as a payment option for various purchases. This news was shortly followed by the fact that Elon stated that the company will nevertheless hold on to its own BTC assets and has no plans of selling the crypto held on its balance sheet any time soon.
The primary reason why Elon has decided to do this is that he wants to reduce the CO2 carbon footprint and the overall pollution and excess energy consumption that is produced via BTC mining. This makes sense, too, as Tesla prides itself on being environmentally friendly to the ecosystem.
As of the time of this writing, BTC is currently trading at $51,115, which is an improvement after dropping to $45,700 yesterday (which was also the lowest that BTC has ever gone ever since this past February).
Tesla not selling BTC
As aforementioned, Tesla will not be selling any of the Bitcoin on its own balance sheet. Moreover, the decision to suspend payments made in BTC is only temporary, and it is expected that BTC payments shall resume as normal once the mining activities become increasingly sustainable.
In related news, as Tesla is actively looking for more eco-friendly options, the search is on for a viable alternative that utilizes less than 1% of BTC’s electric output. Elon had also recently conducted a poll through which he asked his followers whether the ‘joke’ cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) would be implemented as a form of payment as well. Elon had recently appeared as a guest on Saturday Night Live (SNL), where he had mentioned DOGE, and his history of supporting the altcoin has been well documented.
Musk under heavy fire
Naturally, Elon has since been heavily criticized and scrutinized by BTC investors all over the world following the announcement. Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy, stated that although excess energy may be used to mine BTC, there is no trace of incremental energy being used to conduct a BTC transaction.
Furthermore, Bitcoin Standard’s author, Saifedean Ammous, has called Elon a hypocrite, exclaiming that Tesla is not one to talk unless it has successfully switched its battery and rocket manufacturing to a more eco-friendly and sustainable method. He went on to say that money is way more important for the world right now than electric cars and rockets.
As a result of this, there has been a massive demand for Tesla’s products to be boycotted.