Elon Musk wants Bitcoin to become environmentally friendly. Can he convince the crypto’s devotees?
No one has had a bigger impact on the price of Bitcoin than Elon Musk but his concerns over the cryptocurrency’s environmental impact are likely to fall on deaf ears.
The Tesla chief filled the company’s coffers with $1.5 billion (€1.2 billion) in the cryptocurrency. But he made a U-turn earlier in May when he announced Telsa would stop accepting Bitcoin for car purchases out of concern over the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining”.
The price of Bitcoin dropped about 5 per cent within the first five minutes of the announcement and has been volatile since.
On Monday, Musk pushed his environmental concerns further by meeting with Bitcoin miners to discuss ways to make the cryptocurrency greener.
In a tweet, Musk said North American Bitcoin miners committed to “publish current & planned renewable usage,” which was “potentially promising”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
