Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday that the electric car maker will resume negotiations with bitcoin when the miners verifying the transactions use more renewable energy.
“When there is confirmation of a reasonable use of clean energy (~ 50%) by miners with positive future trends, Tesla will allow Bitcoin transactions again,” the executive said on his social network.
Bitcoin rose 5.1% to $ 37,360.63 on Sunday, adding $ 1,817.87 to its previous close, following the Tesla boss’s tweet.
Musk also said that Tesla sold about 10% of the holdings to confirm that bitcoin could be easily liquidated without moving the market.
It announced in May that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin for car purchases, citing long-standing environmental concerns over a rapid reversal in the company’s position on cryptocurrency. Bitcoin fell more than 10% after his tweet.
Musk said he believed that cryptocurrency has a promising future, but that it cannot be at a higher cost to the environment.
In February, Tesla revealed that it had bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would accept it as a form of payment for cars.
Some investors questioned Tesla’s plans months ago. “Of course, we are very concerned about the level of carbon dioxide emissions generated by mining bitcoin,” Ben Dear, CEO of Osmosis Investment Management, a sustainable investor that manages about $ 2.2 billion in assets, said in February. who has Tesla shares in various portfolios.
