By Andrea Hargraves 
The price of the most valuable cryptocurrency in the world BitcoinThis morning, collapsed into $ 45 thousand, after the entrepreneur Elon Musk Announces that the largest company is led by – Tesla – will, after all, Stop accepting Bitcoin payments. This was a novelty Announced in February, Which at the time gave a big boost to the bitcoin price, but Elon Musk would have made this decision as there are more and more reports on energy expenditures associated with so-called “mining” new currencies and preserving the structure of the cryptocurrency – a spending that comes, on numerous occasions. From highly polluting sources such as burning coal.
“Tesla has stopped purchasing vehicles through Bitcoin. We are concerned about the rapid increase in the use of fossil fuels for mining and [gestão de] Transactions, especially coal, the fuel with the highest emissions [poluentes] Everyone, ”Elon Musk wrote on Twitter. Immediately, the value of Bitcoin, which was traded on Wednesday above $ 55,000, It slipped to nearly $ 45,000 (Before, however, it partially recovered to just over $ 50,000 Thursday morning.) However, it must be remembered that Bitcoin only crossed $ 30,000 per coin for the first time this year.
Musk stressed that “cryptocurrencies are a good idea on many levels and we believe that it will have a promising future, but it cannot be done at a great cost to the environment,” the businessman said, ensuring this. Tesla will not sell any of the Bitcoins acquired by the company And making sure it’s still in its plans to use cryptocurrency for transactions – but only as the mining process turns to more sustainable energy consumption.
Finally, Elon Musk notes that he’s evaluating other cryptocurrencies whose use has been linked to less energy consumption than Bitcoin – and he has set a benchmark: Tesla will be interested in purchasing and using cryptocurrencies that consume less than 1% of Bitcoin’s energy.
Tesla and Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021
The so-called ‘mining’ of Bitcoin is about using computational power to gradually solve a complex mathematical problem where progress is difficult to make due to the concept of cryptocurrency. If in the early years of Bitcoin it was easy for any computer to connect to the Bitcoin network and obtain new currencies, nowadays only supercomputers with large processing capacity are able to “discover” new currencies.
The idea behind cryptocurrency is that as these supercomputers (today) try to acquire new currencies, they simultaneously relinquish their computing power so that all transactions taking place in the world are recorded and “logged” – and this is what technology does. Based on blockchain.
Now, many news reports have already indicated that in many parts of the world, including China and Russia, thousands of supercomputers are being used in this process involving massive energy expenditures, often without energy consumption coming from renewable sources.
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Elon Musk, who has revolutionized the electric car sector, appears to have changed his mind about Bitcoin a few months after announcing his support for the digital currency – although many experts have long warned about the environmental risks and energy consumption associated with this cryptocurrency.
Musk, who is guaranteed to continue to be a cryptocurrency enthusiast, already this weekend gave a cold shower to investors who participate in another cryptocurrency, originally created through a joke and was the entrepreneur whose biggest mover was: Dogecoin. On the Saturday Night Live hosted, Elon Musk commented on a draw It is joke that Dogecoin was clearly a “scam”.