The value of bitcoin has jumped somewhat over the past few days given that Elon Musk – the South African entrepreneur behind billion-dollar companies such as Tesla and SpaceX – has changed his tune once again on bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining.
Elon Musk Wants to See More Clean Energy Use
Elon Musk has taken a lot of guff in recent weeks given that he rescinded a decision to accept bitcoin payments for Tesla-based goods and services before the company even began accepting them. The move caused bitcoin to fall deep into the mid-$40,000 range after it had been trading above $50,000 for some time. However, things did not quite end there when Elon Musk later hinted that he was looking to sell his personal bitcoin stash. Many people began speculating, and the price fell even further.
One of the big reasons why Musk decided to stop all bitcoin payments was because he was concerned about the mining process. He felt that bitcoin mining was potentially putting the world’s atmosphere at risk, and he allegedly did not want that on his conscience. Tesla put out the following 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 a great cost to the environment.
However, now Musk has tweeted that granted emissions from bitcoin mining can fall below a certain level, his company will happily go back to accepting crypto payments for goods and services. He states:
When there is confirmation of reasonable (~50 percent) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing bitcoin transactions.
His words have caused many analysts to change their negative tunes and suggest a better future for bitcoin where it is looked at through a positive lens by major companies. Bobby Ong – co-founder of crypto analytics firm Coin Gecko – stated:
The market had been going through another round of corrections over the weekend… until Elon Musk’s tweet of accepting BTC again for Tesla purchases changed sentiment.
I’ve Done Nothing Wrong
Many have accused Musk of initiating a pump and dump scheme. He talks bitcoin up so that it spikes, and he can rake in some profit while later downplaying the asset after selling it. However, Musk insists he has done nothing of the sort. He claims:
This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~ten percent of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving the market.
Either way, Musk has had plenty of influence over the crypto world with his tweets. So much that many protestors recently gathered outside one of his Tesla factories to insist he exit the industry.
