Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin for car purchases
Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin due to climate change concerns, its CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet. Bitcoin fell by more than 10% after the tweet, while Tesla shares also dipped.
Tesla’s announcement in March that it would accept the cryptocurrency was met with an outcry from some environmentalists and investors. Tesla’s announcements earlier this year that it had bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and that it would accept it as payment for cars has been one factor behind the digital tokens’ surging price this year.
While Tesla has now suspended transactions using Bitcoin, the company will explore the use of other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of Bitcoin’s energy per transaction, Elon Musk said. Reports suggest that the annual carbon footprint of Bitcoin is almost equal to that of Slovakia. Bitcoin did fall on Wednesday but recovered some losses to sit at $50,592. Despite the fall, the cryptocurrency is still up 431% in the last one year.
