Elon Musk suddenly announced that Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment when customers buy a car…
Illustration – Photo: Reuters. In a status line (tweet) on the social network Twitter on May 12, Tesla CEO (CEO) Elon Musk suddenly announced that this electric car company stopped accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment when customers buy a car. . This statement by Mr. Musk – who has expressed a pro-crypto stance – shocked investors and caused a sell-off. The reason the world’s second-richest billionaire gave for the reversal is the risks that virtual currencies pose to the global environment. Bitcoin price immediately dropped after Mr. Musk’s tweet was posted. At more than 7:00 am on May 13, Vietnam time, Bitcoin price according to data on Coinmarketcap.com page slipped below $ 50,000, down more than 13% compared to the time 24 hours ago. Many other “hot” virtual currencies also dropped sharply, such as Ethereum down more than 6%, Dogecoin sliding 14%… In February, Musk revealed that Tesla had poured $1.5 billion into Bitcoin and said the company would soon accept Bitcoin as a means of payment when customers buy a car. That information immediately pushed the Bitcoin price up 20%. By March, he said Tesla customers were able to pay with Bitcoin. In a tweet on May 12, Musk said Tesla will not sell a single Bitcoin, but instead intends to use Bitcoin for transactions as soon as Bitcoin mining moves to using other energy sources. more sustainable quantity. “We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of electricity like Bitcoin,” Musk wrote. Bitcoins are “mined” by competing high-performance computers solving complex math problems, and the process consumes enormous amounts of power. The source of electricity for Bitcoin mining is usually thermal power, especially coal-fired power plants, posing a great concern about environmental pollution. At current rates, Bitcoin mining pools used as much energy as the entire Netherlands in 2019, according to data from the University of Cambridge and the International Energy Agency (IEA). Musk himself is a supporter of virtual currencies, and his statements often cause cryptocurrency prices to fluctuate wildly. However, he is also an advocate of clean technology. “Cryptocurrency is a good idea in many ways, and we believe it has a promising future. But that can’t come with a huge loss to the environment,” Musk said. 
Bitcoin price movement in the last 7 days – Source: Trading View. According to blockchain analysis companies, Bitcoin could in theory be traceable, raising the possibility of “green” Bitcoins having a higher price tag. Stronger climate change policies by countries around the world can also help in this. However, some Bitcoin advocates say that the current financial system – with millions of employees and computers in air-conditioned offices – also uses an overwhelming amount of electricity.
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