The price of bitcoin, the reference cryptocurrency, came to plummet this Wednesday around 15% from the intraday highs, after Elon Musk announced that Tesla stopped accepting bitcoins as a means of payment.
“Tesla has suspended purchases of vehicles with bitcoin. We are concerned about the increasing use of fossil fuels for the process of mining cryptocurrencies and transactions of bitcoins, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” announced the billionaire in his Twitter account late on Wednesday.
However, Musk assured in his message that “Tesla will not sell any bitcoin”, underlining that the company intends to continue using the cryptocurrency in its transactions as soon as the mining activity of bitcoins has completed its transition to an energy model. more sustainable.
Likewise, the businessman announced that the company is paying attention to other cryptocurrencies that currently consume much less energy than bitcoin.
“Cryptocurrencies are a good idea on many levels and we believe they have a promising future, but it cannot be at a higher cost to the environment,” he added.
Musk’s announcement comes just three months after the company revealed that it had invested 1.5 billion dollars (1.747 million euros) in bitcoin to enjoy “more flexibility” and “diversify and maximize” the return on cash is not necessary. to maintain adequate operating liquidity.
The reaction of bitcoin to the businessman’s comment was immediate, closing the session on Wednesday at $ 49,150.4, about 15% below the maximum of $ 57,939 that it had reached during the day.
In this way, in the first hours of trading this Thursday, the cryptocurrency managed to recover the level of 50,000 dollars, after having started the session at 46,980 dollars.
