The value of the global cryptocurrency market plunged by more than $350 billion overnight on news that Elon Musk suspended the use of bitcoin to pay for Tesla vehicles because of his concerns about the cryptocurrency’s energy consumption. Late Wednesday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted, “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel. Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment. Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy.” His tweet sent the value of the cryptocurrency into a nosedive. A CNBC report put the value of the crypto market at $2.06 trillion Thursday morning in Singapore, down sharply from $2.43 trillion before Musk’s announcement, based on Coinmarketcap.com data.
Last weekend, Musk used his appearance on Saturday Night Live to flog Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was started as a joke, named after a meme of a Shiba Inu dog, and which may not be any less energy-intensive than bitcoin.
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