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By Michael McCrae - Kitco News
Elon Musk announced Wednesday evening that Tesla would suspend purchases using bitcoin due to CO2 concerns.
In the last hour, Bitcoin has dropped 6.82% to $52,566.32 as of 6:15 p.m. ET.
Musk said he is looking for a more energy-efficient option.
"Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. 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 tweeted out today.
"Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost of the environment."
"Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. We are also lookg at other cryptocurrencies that use >1% of Bitcoin's energy/transaction."
In March Tesla announced it would accept payment in bitcoin. A month later Tesla said its bitcoin investment was worth $2.48 billion.
In regard to alternatives, Musk may not consider gold an option. Skarn Associates told Kitco last week that gold is one-fifth as energy-intensive as bitcoin.
The original article was written by Michael McCrae and published on Kitco News
