Tesla To Likely Resume Bitcoin Payments: Elon Musk
- ByStartupStory | July 23, 2021
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will “most likely” restart accepting Bitcoin as payment for car purchases in future. Musk at the B Word Conference, said the electric carmaker is likely to resume Bitcoin payments after it conducts due diligence on the amount of renewable energy used to mind the virtual coin. The value of Bitcoin surged soon after Musk’s latest comment. A few months ago, the Tesla boss had said Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin for car purchases, citing the environmental impact of mining the virtual coin. However, it seems the car company may start accepting Bitcoins soon. “I wanted a little bit more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50%, and that there is a trend towards increasing that number, and if so, Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin” Musk said.
“Most likely the answer is that Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin,” he added. Musk also admitted that he personally held Bitcoin, Ether and Dogecoin. It may be noted that some Tesla investors and environmentalists have been increasingly critical about the way Bitcoin is mined using vast amounts of electricity generated with fossil fuels.
However, digital currency miners are making attempts to use renewable sources of energy to mitigate the impact of cryptocurrency mining on the environment. Elon Musk said, “Tesla’s mission is accelerating the advent of sustainable energy. We can’t be the company that does that and also not do appropriate diligence on the energy usage of bitcoin.” “I might pump, but I don’t dump,” Musk said. “I definitely do not believe in getting the price high and selling. I would like to see bitcoin succeed.”