The price of bitcoin tanked by more than $2,000 following announcement made by it Chief Executive, Elon Musk’s on his Twitter account regarding bitcoin payment for Tesla.
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, 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
He added that said Tesla will look at other cyrptocurrencies that use less energy to mine.
