Tesla will resume bitcoin transactions once it confirms there is reasonable clean energy usage by miners, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In May, the EV maker stopped accepting bitcoin out of concern that it will contribute to greater consumption of fossil fuels.
“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 Sunday. He also said Tesla sold about 10% of holdings to confirm the popular cryptocurrency could be liquidated easily without moving market.
Jonathan Cheesman, head of over-the-counter and institutional sales at crypto derivatives exchange FTX, said the tweet added to positive momentum as Elon’s stance seems to be moderating and providing a target that’s not far away. “The rally was already underway as the market speculates about an imminent purchase from MicroStrategy and the G7 comments on crypto were neutral, even optimistic, about digital innovation.”
According to Newsweek, Musk’s remarks came after Magda Wierzycka, CEO of Sygnia, a financial services company in South Africa urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to probe Musk’s tweets to determine if he is engaged in market manipulation. “The bitcoin volatility we have seen is unexpected function of what I would call market manipulation by Elon Musk,” Wierzycka said in an interview on the Money Show. “If that happens to a listed company, he would be investigated and severely sanctioned by the SEC.”
After Musk’s tweet, bitcoin rose 5.1% to $37,360.63 at 1810 GMT (2:10pm ET) on Sunday, adding $1,817.87 to its previous close. He says to be an “avid supporter” of cryptocurrencies and often drives its price up or down with his tweets.
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In February, Tesla revealed in an SEC filing that it purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and said it would begin accepting bitcoin as a payment method for its products. However, it halted the bitcoin transactions in mid-May due to concerns over how cryptocurrency mining, which requires banks of powerful computers, contributes to climate change. “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 had said in May.
