South Africa-born businessman Elon Musk has once again sent the internet into a frenzy simply by warming his Twitter fingers.
In a statement shared to his page on Thursday morning, Musk announced that his electronic car company Tesla will no longer accept bitcoin for car purchases.
He cited long-brewing environmental concerns for the decision.
“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,” Musk wrote.
He added that Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin “as soon as mining transitioned to more sustainable energy”.
CNBC reported that as much as $365.85bn was wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market after the announcement, while Gadgets360 said bitcoin shares fell by more than 10%.
The decision came less than two months after Tesla began accepting the popular digital currency for payment.
While markets reacted strongly to the decision, social media was a mess. Musk and Tesla topped Twitter trends lists around the world, including in SA.
Businessman and music mogul DJ Sbu reacted to the news, tweeting: “Elon Musk is messing with our money”.
Others joked that he should have done them a solid and let them know about the decision before putting it on social media.
‘He’s making us poorer’ — Elon Musk has the internet in meltdown mode with Tesla bitcoin U-turn
Digital Editor
Image: REUTERS
South Africa-born businessman Elon Musk has once again sent the internet into a frenzy simply by warming his Twitter fingers.
In a statement shared to his page on Thursday morning, Musk announced that his electronic car company Tesla will no longer accept bitcoin for car purchases.
He cited long-brewing environmental concerns for the decision.
“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,” Musk wrote.
He added that Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin “as soon as mining transitioned to more sustainable energy”.
CNBC reported that as much as $365.85bn was wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market after the announcement, while Gadgets360 said bitcoin shares fell by more than 10%.
The decision came less than two months after Tesla began accepting the popular digital currency for payment.
While markets reacted strongly to the decision, social media was a mess. Musk and Tesla topped Twitter trends lists around the world, including in SA.
Businessman and music mogul DJ Sbu reacted to the news, tweeting: “Elon Musk is messing with our money”.
Others joked that he should have done them a solid and let them know about the decision before putting it on social media.
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