After initially implying the contrary, Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk explained that his company did not sell bitcoin (XBT). His original Twitter exchange had exacerbated bitcoin’s losses.
The new cryptocurrency saga started on Sunday, when a user going by the handle CryptoWhales tweeted, “Bitcoiners will fall off when they discover that Tesla dumped the remainder of their # bitcoin holdings next quarter.”
“I wouldn’t blame him for the amount of hate @elonmusk,” the user added.
Musk simply replied, “That’s true,” about an hour later.
According to the Coinbase cryptocurrency tracker, Bitcoin dropped below $43,000 in hours, losing more than 8% the previous day. It had already lost ground earlier in the day, but losses were increased in conjunction with Musk’s message.
“Tesla hasn’t sold any bitcoin to clear rumors,” Musk later tweeted.
Musk later responded with a tweet that said, “Tesla has not sold bitcoin to dispel rumours.”
“We are concerned about the growing use of fossil fuels to mine Bitcoin and transactions, especially coal, which has the highest fuel emissions,” Musk said in a tweet last Wednesday. “Cryptocurrency is an intelligent concept on many levels, and we believe that it has a bright future, but not at the expense of high environmental costs.”
For several years, the environmental costs of mining or manufacturing digital currencies have been well documented.
As a result of the survey, Bitcoin fell by around 12%. Musk had been personally promoting bitcoin and other common cryptocurrencies, such as dogecoin, for months.
Just before that, the CEO polled his Twitter followers to see if they wanted “Tesla to take up the Doge.”
Tesla and Musk seemed to be becoming increasingly bullish on Bitcoin for at least a few months. In February, they revealed that they had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and that they were exploring the possibility of purchasing their vehicles using cryptocurrencies. Musk tweeted at the end of March, ‘You can now buy a Bitcoin Tesla.’
However, the company announced in a registration file last month that it is evaluating whether “events or changes in circumstances… mean that our digital assets are more likely than not to be compromised” each quarter. It also disclosed that it had sold 10% of its bitcoin assets for $101 million.
Musk said last week that Tesla will continue to use bitcoin until it can find cleaner energy sources.
“Tesla will not sell Bitcoin, and we plan to use it in transactions as soon as mining shifts to more sustainable energy,” he said. “We’re also looking at other [less than] 1% energy/transaction cryptocurrencies.”
Musk’s other businesses have also joined in on the fun. His SpaceX exploration company announced last week that it will accept dogecoin as payment for a future mission.
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