Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, cuts ties with Bitcoin due to accelerated use of fossil fuels, deeming it too environmentally damaging.
Despite Musk’s previous support of Bitcoin, his decision to part ways with the cryptocurrency was based on conflict of interest. Bitcoin’s production methods proved incredibly taxing on the environment, where “energy-intense computing power” was required to meet global demands.
Contrastingly, the whole premise behind Musk’s billion-dollar company is “sustainable transport” for the purpose of minimal environmental impact.
On 13 May, Musk released the following tweet, personally explaining his departure from Bitcoin and revealing how energy levels involved with production have spiked in recent months:
Energy usage trend over past few months is insane https://t.co/E6o9s87trw pic.twitter.com/bmv9wotwKe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021
A study by Cambridge University found that the amount of energy used to produce Bitcoin creates a carbon footprint of more than “several countries including Argentina and Norway…“. The cryptocurrency empire alone, with its millions of employees and computers, exhausts incredibly “large amounts of energy“.
This increased use of fossil fuels and energy could no longer justify Musk’s interests. Furthermore, he expressed concerns surrounding the impact these emissions will have on the environment, essentially making his objective for sustainable transport, harder to achieve.
However, once Bitcoin instils more environmentally conscious practices, Musk will resume work with the cryptocurrency.
In the wake of Musk’s honesty, the cryptocurrency market has witnessed massive losses – “$365.85 billion” to be exact. Bitcoin alone has experienced a drop of 8 per cent in the past 24 hours.
Since cutting ties with Bitcoin, Tesla has aligned its interests with Dogecoin, resulting in a solid 11 per cent increase for the company.
The cryptocurrency that began as a joke in 2013 has now witnessed a $10 billion rise within 15 minutes. The quirky crypto seemingly aligns with Musk’s humour, who tweeted back in April “Doge Barking at the Moon”:
Doge Barking at the Moon pic.twitter.com/QFB81D7zOL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2021
This could be a bizarre match made in heaven.
Despite the recent controversy, and plummeting value, Bitcoin still leads the cryptocurrency market…for now.
