Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for Teslas, reversing a policy only weeks after it went into effect.
Elon Musk is a big proponent of cryptocurrency, so it’s no surprise that both of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have taken an unconventional approach as well. SpaceX recently announced it had accepted Dogecoin as payment for carrying a satellite on its upcoming mission to the Moon and Tesla was accepting Bitcoin as payment for vehicle purchases.
Unfortunately, an often overlooked byproduct of cryptocurrency mining is the impact it has on the environment. In fact, as far back as 2018, it was estimated that every $1 of Bitcoin that was generated was responsible for $49 of health and climate damage in the US.
Musk cited the environmental impact as the primary reason for Tesla’s change of direction. He made the statement via Twitter.
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.
Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to 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 looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.
*Author holds a very small amount of Dogecoin that in no way influenced this article.