Tesla Inc, an electric-car manufacturer, will likely accept bitcoin payments again after it has done due diligence on the amount renewable energy used to mine it, Elon Musk, chief executive officer, said Wednesday at a conference.
Bitcoin rose 8% to $32,160.16 while ether rose 11.6% at $1,993.36. In extended trading, Tesla’s shares fell 0.8% to $655.30
Musk’s remarks at the B Word conference follow Tesla’s May announcement that it would no longer accept bitcoin for car purchase, less than two years after accepting the largest digital currency in the world.
Musk stated, “I wanted to do a bit more research to confirm that the percentage renewable energy usage is most probable at or above 50% and that there is an trend towards increasing that number. If so Tesla would resume taking bitcoin.”
“Most likely, Tesla would accept bitcoin again.”
It was evident that Musk’s reputation as an environmentalist, and his use of his wealth and popularity to support cryptocurrencies, had been distorted by the purchase of Tesla’s electric cars using bitcoin.
Tesla investors and environmentalists have become increasingly critical of the method by which bitcoin is “mined” using large amounts of electricity generated from fossil fuels.
However, more digital currency miners are trying to use renewable energy to reduce the environmental impact.
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the development of sustainable energy. Musk stated that we cannot be the company that does this without doing the right diligence regarding the energy use of bitcoin.
Musk said that he owned bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin personally, in addition to the bitcoins that Tesla and SpaceX owned.
Musk stated that he might pump, but he doesn’t dump. Musk stated that he doesn’t believe in selling bitcoin and raising the price. I want to see Bitcoin succeed.