Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc, announced on Wednesday that the company would no longer allow bitcoin for car purchases, citing long-standing environmental issues as the reason for the swift shift in the company’s stance on the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin dropped more than 10% after Musk announced his decision to stop using it, less than two months after Tesla started accepting the world’s largest digital currency as payment. Other cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum, have dropped in value before regaining some ground in Asia trade.
The use of bitcoin to purchase Tesla’s electric vehicles revealed a contradiction between Musk’s environmentalist reputation and his use of his celebrity and wealth as one of the world’s wealthiest people to back cryptocurrencies.
Some Tesla investors, as well as environmentalists, have been highly critical of the way bitcoin is “mined” with massive quantities of fossil-fuel-generated electricity.
