Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a significant decrease in value following Twitter comments by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, implying that Tesla is all set to sell or has sold its BTC stock due to environmental concerns. The currency saw a record drop, closing in on $43,874 on Sunday. Musk’s disclosure early February that Tesla had invested a whopping $1.5 billion in Bitcoin had raised it to big heights as its value increased exponentially. This development increased legitimacy of digital currencies in the mainstream market and lead to an increase in its outreach. Since then, digital currencies have become the “New world assets”, shaking the financial market. But this recent announcement has caused a deterioration on all digital currency stocks, despite Elon raising support for the overall market. The criticism comes from environmental groups, calling out digital currencies a menace on the natural environment, effectively putting efforts to reduce global warming to waste. Some even went as far as to call out Elon’s support for global warming through an all electric car company, and yet investing billions in an energy inefficient currency. Elon replied to a similar tweet, agreeing to the words and calling back his support for Bitcoin. Other currencies Since his announcement, The worlds most coveted currency, Bitcoin, has seen a $10,000 drop in value. On the other hand, Dogecoin seems to gaining traction due to Elon’s support for the coin on internet platforms. Following the announcement to back off from BTC, DOGE has also seen a reduction in stock prices, leading to Elon investing in finding an energy-efficient solution to the problem.
To be clear, I strongly believe in crypto, but it can’t drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021