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Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Accept Bitcoin Again Soon

Published

3 years ago

July 22, 2021

Elon Musk’s love-hate relationship with cryptocurrency made a new turn again Wednesday when he said Tesla will accept bitcoin as payment again. He said that the electric vehicle company will once again approve EV purchases paid through cryptocurrency.

Tesla Will Accept Bitcoin Again

During the B-Word Conference, a cryptocurrency event hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation, Musk spoke about changes in the industry. “It looks like bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewables and a bunch of the heavy-duty coal plants that were being used…have been shut down, especially in China,” he said.

“I want to do a little more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50% and that there is a trend toward increasing that number,” he added. If this happens, Tesla will accept bitcoin payments again.

Musk Earlier Abandoned Bitcoin

Earlier this year, Musk helped crash the bitcoin market. He announced that due to concerns over excessive use of fossil fuels for mining, Tesla will suspend accepting bitcoin purchases. From its highs of $65,000, the price of bitcoin tumbled down. Currently, it’s hovering at the $30,000 level, which is nearer to its price during December of last year.

Since the crash, China took the initiative and cracked down on its local crypto miners. Saying that miners directly tapped into power plants, the Chinese government forbade all mining farm operations.

This resulted in a crypto mining exodus, as mining companies began transferring operations to a more friendly country. The latest data from Cambridge University shows that many heads off for the US. This made the United States the second-biggest destination for the world’s bitcoin miners. It is home to some of the cheapest sources of power on the planet, with many plants using renewable sources.

US Is New Home For Many Bitcoin Miners

Fred Thiel of Marathon Digital said most miners new to North America will use electricity sourced from renewables. Alternatively, they will use gas offset by renewable energy credits. Compass CEO Whit Gibbs estimated that the total bitcoin mining industry in the country now uses more than 50% power from renewable sources.

Musk took the move to the US and to renewable energy as a sign for Tesla to consider accepting bitcoin again. “Long-term, renewable energy will be the cheapest energy, but it doesn’t just happen overnight.

But as long as there is a conscious and determined, real effort by the mining community to move toward renewables, then obviously Tesla can support that,” he added. As a result, Bitcoin, which fell below $30,000 yesterday, is now trading 8% higher on Wednesday.

Watch the Solving The Money Problem video documenting everything Elon Musk said about Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum: