Elon Musk Was Reportedly Pressured By Tesla Shareholders To Drop Bitcoin, Kevin O'Leary Says

Tech tycoon and one of the world's richest people, Elon Musk, was pressured by the shareholders of Tesla Inc. TSLA to drop support for Bitcoin BTC/USD, according to prominent investor and Shark Tank co-host Kevin O'Leary.

What Happened: During a recent interview with Cryptopotato, O'Leary allegedly said that Bitcoin's environmental impact has to be minimized before any other large corporation or institution adopts it.

He suggested that when Musk announced Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin as payment for cars due to environmental concerns, his hands were forced by shareholders.

“Elon was pressured, I believe, by the shareholders of Tesla to speak out about this because they live with sustainability committees, and they’re not on the side with Bitcoin being used as a currency to buy Tesla cars. And so they probably pressured him to make the statement he made, ” O'Leary said.

Shark Tank investor also said that he understands Musk's decision since the company just "echoed what every institution is saying," meaning that "you can’t just burn coal to mine bitcoin. That has to stop if you want institutions.”

O'Leary explained that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues have to be solved by Bitcoin miners to make the coin more appetible to modern investors and institutions.  

“The energy waste should be avoided regardless of its color. And Tesla should focus on its core business. Drop the Bitcoin position and move on," as APG Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Peter Branner recently told Reuters.

Similarly, head of ESG and Investment Stewardship at American Century Investment Guillaume Mascotto admitted that payment companies and other firms taking large crypto positions would affect the firm's ESG risk rating, "especially if it contributes to ‘engineering’ their bottom-lines like we saw with Tesla.”

Check this interview with Kevin O'Leary on Benzinga's Power Hour