The price of bitcoin fell for the second consecutive day following a Tweet from Elon Musk saying Tesla will suspend payment for its product with bitcoin.
Trading statistics on Coinbase showed that Bitcoin price crashed to $47,621 as of 17:00 UTC (6pm Nigerian time) on Thursday, May 13, 2020, crashing from $55,062.33 in the previous 24 hours.
This is an indication that the Cryptocurrency lost about 14 per cent of its value.
Elon Musk on Wednesday reversed his backing of bitcoin, saying Tesla was will no longer accept the digital currency as payment for its cars.
He said the decision was due to environmental concerns of bitcoin mining and the mechanism used to validate bitcoin transactions.
Bitcoin prices fell by as much as 14 percent on Wednesday following the announcement, according to Coindesk data. Before Musk made the statement, Bitcoin sold for about $54,700.
Musk said on 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,” he continued.
Many people who indicated interest in buying Tesla vehicles withdrew their orders following the announcement of Elon Musk.
Tesla began accepting Bitcoin payments in March this year.
About 70 percent of Bitcoin mining takes place in China, according to data from the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Alternative Finance.
Fossil fuels are the primary source of electricity there until the rainy summer months, when sources are switched to hydro power.
