Bitcoin Mine In The US Is More Environmentally Friendly, Elon Musk Allows Purchase Of Tesla With Crypto

Tesla can again be bought using bitcoin. (photo: Tech Nick/ unsplash)

JAKARTA - Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that his company is likely to start accepting bitcoin for vehicle purchases again.

“It looks like bitcoin is turning more to renewable energy and a bunch of used heavy-duty coal plants have shut down, especially in China,” Musk said Wednesday, July 21 at The B-Word conference, an event hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation.

“I wanted to do a bit of due diligence to make sure that the percentage of renewable energy use is likely to be at or above 50% and that there is a tendency to increase that number. If so, Tesla will most likely return to accepting bitcoins," he said.

In May, Musk said on Twitter that the company would suspend purchases of vehicles using bitcoin due to concerns over the "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining."

In Beijing, the Chinese government has also cracked down on crypto, expelling the country's cryptocurrency miners, who have since started moving elsewhere. New data from the University of Cambridge shows many miners are heading to the US, which is now the world's second-largest destination for bitcoin miners.

The US is home to some of the cheapest resources on the planet, which, more often than not, are renewable. Fred Thiel of Marathon Digital said most of the new miners in North America will be powered by renewable energy or gas offset by renewable energy credits. Compass CEO Whit Gibbs estimates that bitcoin mining in the US is more than 50% powered by renewable energy.

“Long-term renewables will be the cheapest energy, but it doesn't just happen overnight,” Musk said. “But as long as there is a real and conscious and determined effort by the mining community to move towards renewable energy, then clearly Tesla can support it.”

Positive sentiment arose over Elon Musk's statement, which saw Bitcoin trade on average nearly 8% higher on Wednesday, July 21.