https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/12/22433153/tesla-suspend-bitcoin-vehicle-purchase-cryptocurrency-elon-musk

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Filed under:

  * Tech
  * Transportation
  * Tesla

Tesla stops taking Bitcoin for vehicle purchases, citing
environmental harm

New, 11 comments

After just 49 days

By Sean O'Kane@sokane1 May 12, 2021, 6:21pm EDT

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Tesla Model S redesign Image: Tesla

Tesla has stopped accepting bitcoin as payment for its cars out of
concern that it will contribute to greater consumption of fossil
fuels, according to a statement CEO Elon Musk tweeted Wednesday.
Tesla had only just started accepting bitcoin in late March.

Musk also said that Tesla will no longer sell any more of the $1.5
billion stash of bitcoin it purchased earlier this year. Tesla sold
some of that bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021, which wound up
helping pad the company's quarterly profit figures.

Related

Tesla's $1.5 billion bitcoin purchase clashes with its environmental
aspirations

Tesla says it would resume accepting bitcoin (and would consider
selling more of it) once the process of mining bitcoin "transitions
to more sustainable energy," according to the statement. The company
is also "looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin's
energy/transaction." As of this writing, Tesla's website indicates it
will still accept Bitcoin for transactions.

"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," Musk's statement reads.

    Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP

    -- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021

Bitcoin uses up as much electricity annually as the Netherlands,
according to one estimate. All that energy comes with a huge carbon
footprint. And there's no simple fix because the blockchain that the
cryptocurrency is built on is purposely energy inefficient. That
clashes with Tesla's mission to "accelerate the world's transition to
sustainable energy."

Musk has also hyped another cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, which Tesla has
not invested in. Musk has called Dogecoin, which was invented as a
joke to satirize bitcoin, his favorite cryptocurrency and "the
people's crypto." The cryptocurrency's worth plunged after Musk
called it a "hustle" on Saturday Night Live. Bitcoin's value has
similarly plunged about 4 percent after today's Musk tweet, to
$52,593.46 at 6:21PM ET from $54,829.14 at 6:06PM, according to
Coindesk.

With reporting by Justine Calma and Elizabeth Lopatto

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