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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc., arrives in court during the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Tuesday, July 13, 2021.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would likely resume accepting bitcoin for vehicle purchases.
“It looks like bitcoin is turning a lot more to renewables and a bunch of heavy-duty coal-fired power plants that were in use… have been shut down, especially in China,” Musk said Wednesday at the B-Word conference, an event organized by the Crypto Council for Innovation.
“I want to do a little more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy use is most likely equal to or greater than 50% and that there is a trend for that number to increase. is the case, Tesla will most likely resume accepting bitcoin. ”he said.
In May, Musk said on Twitter that the company would suspend purchases of vehicles using bitcoin over fears of “the increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining.”
Beijing has since cracked down on crypto, expelling crypto miners from the country, who have since started repatriating elsewhere. New data from the University of Cambridge shows that many miners are heading to the United States, which is now the second largest destination for bitcoin miners in the world.
The United States is home to some of the cheapest energy sources on the planet, most of which are renewable. Fred Thiel of Marathon Digital said most new miners in North America will be powered by renewables, or gas offset by renewable energy credits, and Compass CEO Whit Gibbs estimated that the Bitcoin mining in the United States is fueled over 50% by renewable energy.
“In the long run, renewables will be the cheapest energy, but that doesn’t happen overnight,” Musk said. “But as long as there is a conscious and determined, real effort by the mining community to move towards renewables, then obviously Tesla can support that.”
Bitcoin was trading nearly 8% higher on Wednesday.
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