Elon Musk cancelled the option to exchange bitcoins for Tesla, sparking a discussion

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, sparked an ongoing discussion with his tweet titled “Tesla and Bitcoin.” Musk reported that:

“Tesla has suspended the bitcoin exchange for Tesla as of now. We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency transactions. Of particular concern is the use of coal, which has the greatest negative impact on the environment compared to other fuels.”

The entrepreneur also emphasized that:
“Cryptocurrency is a good idea from many angles, and we are sure that this idea has a promising future, but it should not be implemented at the expense of a large negative impact on the environment. Tesla does not intend to sell its bitcoins, and we plan to use them in transactions when bitcoin mining shifts to energy sources that have less environmental impact. We are currently looking at cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of the energy that is used in bitcoin transactions.”

Musk’s statement drew a lot of backlash from experts in both the cryptocurrency community and from analysts in the classic financial industry, and the debate is still ongoing. Morgan Creek Capital Managing Partner Anthony Pompliano reached out to Ilon, reminding him that “75% of bitcoin miners actually use electricity generated from renewable energy sources,” stressing that “the ‘energy argument’ against bitcoin mining has been refuted many times in the past and is not true to this day.”

Analyst Preston Pash gave the rationale that Elon Musk is aware that bitcoin mining is done primarily through the use of electricity not derived from coal power. Indeed, Musk’s awareness is evident in the cited correspondence with Jack Dorsey, founder and head of Twitter and cryptocurrency company Square, in which Dorsey reveals that Square, together with ARK Invest, is finding support for the thesis that “bitcoin encourages the use of energy from renewable sources,” to which Musk responded favorably, noting that it is true.