Elon Musk has once again proven to be the pulse of the crypto index with his announcement of Tesla’s parting from Bitcoin transactions.
Elon Musk announces Tesla-Bitcoin divorce
Less than two months ago, eco-gearheads were excited with the prospect of purchasing Tesla’s futuristic fleet using Bitcoin. However, on Wednesday evening, the second wealthiest person on earth pulled the plug on this groundbreaking transaction policy, citing environmental concerns as his motivation.
“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk wrote.
As soon as this presser surfaced on the internet, the crypto portfolio that’s been on a steady upward pace plummeted by 10%.
“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,” he added.
Musk didn’t outrightly condone crypto. It seems the billionaire rocket scientist is shifting the market towards “cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”
Consequently, leading crypto portfolios like Dogecoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Cardano saw massive plunges, as investors rushed in a frenzy to sell.
Cryptocurrency index on Thursday 13 May 2021
At the time this article was published, these were the most updated cryptocurrency positions:
Bitcoin (BTC): $51 065 (-6.55%)
Dogecoin (DOGE): $0.46 (-5.44%)
Ripple (XRP): $1.37 (-4.34%)
Ethereum (ETH): $3 982 (-3.12%)
These were some of the reactions to the crypto frenzy we picked out on social media:
Those who lost their money due to deep fall in #cryptocurrency to Elon Musk right now pic.twitter.com/0HFD3O1YOm
— Ashish Verma (@ashi_002) May 13, 2021
If I buy my cyber truck with #doge coins ..Confirmation that I am in the correct simulation. #Doge4Tesla @elonmusk like seriously lol what a world. pic.twitter.com/x6AmNO6khe
— Jesse (@Jessewelle) May 13, 2021
I’m not disappointed by @elonmusk’s concern about the environmental impact of Bitcoin
— Nicholas Merten (@Nicholas_Merten) May 13, 2021
I’m disappointed that the innovator who has put rockets into space, revolutionized EV vehicles, and changed the game for digital payments didn’t say:
“Let’s see if we can fix this”