Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk suggested Wednesday that the electric vehicle maker will resume accepting payments in Bitcoin BTC/USD if due diligence confirms preliminary findings that Bitcoin is turning a lot greener.
What Happened: “It looks like Bitcoin is shifting a lot more towards renewables,” said Musk at The B Word conference on Wednesday in a virtual appearance.
As #Bitcoin shifts towards using more renewables - $TSLA will resume accepting $BTC @elonmusk #TheBWord | https://t.co/J491D0xSOL pic.twitter.com/gqJ8Os7tJY
— Benzinga (@Benzinga) July 21, 2021
Musk noted that heavy-duty coal plants that were “unequivocally” being used have been shut down, particularly in China.
See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)
“I want to do a little more diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50% and that there is a trend towards increasing that number. If so, Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin.”
BTC traded 8.79% higher at $32,217.35 over 24 hours at press time.
Why It Matters: Musk reaffirmed on Wednesday that the most likely scenario was Tesla would resume accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment.
However, the CEO pointed out that there exists some skepticism at the speed at which Bitcoin is turning green.
“There’s just no way you could basically double or triple the amount of energy in such a short period of time with renewables.”
Pointing towards the need to do diligence while stating Tesla’s mission of accelerating sustainable energy, Musk said, “We can’t be the company that does that and not do appropriate diligence on the energy usage of Bitcoin.”
Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin for vehicle purchases in May after citing environmental concerns.
Last month, Musk repeated that Tesla would begin accepting BTC when there’s “clear confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage” on Twitter.
Read Next: Jack Dorsey Tells Elon Musk: Bitcoin Has 'Irreverence' Factor Going For It Just As Much As Dogecoin
Photo: Courtesy of Heisenberg Media via Wikimedia
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