New York: The price of bitcoin fell below 50,000 Thursday morning after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a day earlier that the electric car maker would stop accepting the digital currency as payment for its vehicles.
The price of bitcoin fell below $50,000 Thursday morning after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a day earlier that the electric car maker would stop accepting the digital currency as payment for its vehicles.
Musk on Wednesday cited environmental concerns for the change in policy.
“We are concerned about rapid increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk said on Twitter. He added that cryptocurrency is a “good idea on many levels” but its promise cannot come at a “great cost to the environment.” He also said that Tesla won’t be selling any of the Bitcoin it owns.
The price of bitcoin slipped to $49,880 in morning trading Thursday, the first time it’s been below $50,000 since early March. Tesla shares were poised for gains early Thursday after falling 4.4% on Wednesday.
