After pausing purchases with Bitcoin earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reiterated on Wednesday that the electric vehicle maker may start allowing car buyers to pay with the cryptocurrency once the tech exec is more comfortable with its energy usage.
‘It looks like Bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewables and a bunch of the heavy-duty coal plants that were being used…have been shut down, especially in China,’ Musk, 50, said on Wednesday at The B-Word conference, a cryptocurrency event that included Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey and Ark Invest CEO/CIO Cathie Wood.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday the electric vehicle maker may allow car buyers to pay with Bitcoin once he is more comfortable with its energy usage. Musk wants to confirm the percentage of renewable energy is near or higher than 50 percent and the trend is increasing
Musk added that he wants to confirm the percentage of renewable energy is near or higher than 50 percent and if the trend is increasing, ‘Tesla will most likely resume accepting Bitcoin.’
During the lengthy conversation, Musk also confirmed that in addition to owning shares of the companies he has founded – Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company – he also owns Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum.
Musk confirmed that he owns Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum. The price of Bitcoin rose nearly 8 percent to over $32,000 on back of the news, but was more recently trading at $31,678.71
The price of Bitcoin rose nearly 8 percent to over $32,000 on back of the news, but was more recently trading at $31,678.71 late Wednesday, according to Coindesk.
Ethereum also gained following the disclosure, gaining nearly 12 percent. More recently, it was up almost 8 percent to $1,939.18 a coin.
Ethereum also gained following the disclosure, gaining nearly 12 percent. More recently, it was up almost 8 percent to $1,939.18 a coin
Musk also said that SpaceX owns Bitcoin, but did not disclose how much of the cryptocurrency the space exploration company owns.
Like other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and the aforementioned dogecoin, bitcoin is not yet widely accepted for commerce in major economies, hampered by its volatility and relatively costly and slow processing times.
During Wednesday’s talk, Musk said that ‘bitcoin by itself simply can not scale to replace the monetary system of the world at the base layer. But with a second layer, it’s possible, depending upon how that’s implemented.’
Musk’s comments are a reiteration of what he said in June, when the world’s second-richest man tweeted that Tesla would start taking Bitcoin payments for cars when miners can ensure ‘reasonable clean energy usage.’
‘When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions,’ Musk tweeted on June 13.
Musk had announced in May that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin for car purchases, citing long-brewing environmental concerns for a swift reversal in the company’s position on the cryptocurrency.
Musk had tweeted in May that Tesla ‘will not be selling any bitcoin’ and ‘has not sold any bitcoin.’
The tech exec took issue with the vast computing power required to process bitcoin transactions and in posted messages appeared to lament a breakup with bitcoin.
Tesla shares are down roughly 30 percent since it disclosed in February that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin.
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, was launched back in 2009.
In May, Tesla said it would no longer accept Bitcoin for purchases, citing environmental concerns In February, Tesla disclosed that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin
The problem with bitcoin is the energy involved in mining new coins and verifying existing value, according to billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
It uses more electricity per transaction than any other method or currency known to humanity due to the way it is mined by high-powered computers.
The machines continuously solve math puzzles that require fast, expensive processors that use huge amounts of energy to run and keep cool.
These farms are often connected to the electricity grid, and in most countries, fossil fuels, especially coal, are the main source of energy for these national grids.
A 2018 study published in Nature found huge farms of computers used to mine Bitcoin could produce enough greenhouse gases to raise global temperatures 3.6°F (2°C) in less than three decades.
Studies have shown that the annual carbon emissions from the electricity generated to mine and process the cryptocurrency is equal to the amount emitted by whole countries, including New Zealand and Argentina.
The main cost of sourcing new bitcoins is in the cost of electricity.
In the earliest days of Bitcoin, a miner could earn 50 BTC every few minutes, but the more bitcoin are uncovered, the harder it is to find them, creating a scarcity.
Today a dedicated $2,000 (£1,419) bitcoin miner will generate about $8 (£5.68) in bitcoin revenue per day, not including the cost of electricity.