The electric vehicle manufacturer announced that it will no longer accept bitcoins in the sale of its cars due to the high energy consumption in mining the digital currency.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced tonight on Twitter that the company will no longer accept bitcoins in the sale of its cars. This is due to fears surrounding the “rapidly growing use of fossil fuels for mining and transacting bitcoins.”
Tesla, which makes electric vehicles, is one of the leading brands in the clean energy sector, Bloomberg points out.
With this announcement, bitcoin follows losing ground, down 8.21 percent to $51,886.59.
The company announced in February that it had invested $1.5 billion in the purchase of bitcoins.
Shortly after, in March, it announced that it would now accept this cryptocurrency as a means of payment, thus giving this digital currency credibility as a newcomer member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
Tesla was already listed on the Nasdaq and since last December it has also been a member of the S&P 500.
Bitcoin mining is consuming 66 times more electricity than in late 2015, and the associated carbon dioxide emissions are likely to face increasing scrutiny, a Citigroup report quoted by Bloomberg said recently.
Last weekend, another cryptocurrency that had long been praised by Elon Musk – dogecoin – sank more than 30% in a few hours, after the Tesla CEO said that this currency is nothing but a “scam” after all.
