Bitcoin’s value went into freefall after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company would no longer accept the cryptocurrency as payment for cars because of its negative impact on the environment.
The popular cryptocurrency dropped about 7% to $52,884 just minutes after Musk tweeted his criticism. It marks a major reversal from February when Tesla said in a regulatory filing that it would accept Bitcoin “as a form of payment for our products in the near future.”
“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 said. “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.”
On Tuesday, Musk polled his Twitter followers about whether Tesla should accept Dogecoin cryptocurrency—originally intended as a joke, but has since skyrocketed in value—as a form of payment. Nearly 80% of Musk’s survey respondents said the company should.
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