A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin and U.S. One Dollar banknotes are seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photohas suspended the use of bitcoin to purchase its vehicles, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a tweet on Wednesday, citing concerns about the use of fossil fuel for bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency, fell more than 7% after the tweet and was trading at $52,669 . Musk said Tesla would not sell any bitcoin, and intends to use bitcoin for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. "We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of bitcoin's energy/transaction," Musk said.The digital currency is created when high-powered computers compete against other machines to solve complex mathematical puzzles, an energy-intensive process that currently often relies on electricity generated with fossil fuels, particularly coal.
At current rates, such bitcoin “mining” devours about the same amount of energy annually as the Netherlands did in 2019, the latest available data from the University of Cambridge and the International Energy Agency shows."Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment," Musk said.