Musk Indicates Selling All Tesla-Held Bitcoin... What Is the Reason Behind His 'Whim'? (Summary)

Musk Shifts Stance from Supporting Bitcoin to Selling It
Biggest Issue Is Energy Waste

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Elon Musk, CEO of the American electric vehicle company Tesla, hinted that Tesla has either sold all of its Bitcoin holdings or plans to sell them soon. Analysts suggest that his change in attitude, despite being an ardent supporter of Bitcoin, stems from a belated realization of Bitcoin's environmental issues and transaction inefficiencies.

According to foreign media on the 16th (local time), Musk responded "Indeed" to a tweet from a netizen on the social networking service Twitter, who wrote, "When Bitcoin enthusiasts find out that Tesla has sold all its Bitcoin holdings by the next quarter, they will be in a lot of trouble themselves." Following Musk's reply, Bitcoin prices continued to fall. According to CoinDesk, as of 10 a.m. Korean time on the 17th, Bitcoin was priced at $45,257, marking a sharp drop of about 9% from the previous day's peak.

Previously, Musk was known as a strong supporter of Bitcoin, credited with driving its price rally starting from January when he changed his Twitter bio to "Bitcoin." On March 24, he even announced via tweet that Tesla would accept Bitcoin as a payment method for purchasing Tesla cars.

However, on the 12th, he abruptly halted Bitcoin payment acceptance citing environmental concerns, and on the 16th, he made remarks suggesting that Tesla might have sold all its Bitcoin holdings, triggering a downward trend in Bitcoin's value.

The main reason behind Musk's sudden change of stance appears to be the issue of Bitcoin's wasteful electricity consumption. Given his continuous emphasis on global environmental issues and leadership of an electric vehicle company, it is interpreted that investing in Bitcoin, which wastes electrical resources, could be seen as contradictory.

Bloomberg reported, "He likely jumped into Bitcoin investment without serious consideration and only later began to worry about environmental issues," adding, "As a result, he changed his attitude toward Bitcoin because it does not align with the eco-friendly image he has cultivated."

On the 12th, he tweeted, "The surge in fossil fuel use due to Bitcoin mining is concerning," and added, "I will look for another cryptocurrency that uses only 1% of Bitcoin's electricity consumption." The following day, Musk posted a graph on Twitter showing the sharp increase in Bitcoin's electricity usage over recent years. According to TRG Data Center, Bitcoin's electricity consumption per transaction is 707 kWh, the highest among all cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, Bitcoin's transaction times can sometimes exceed an hour, making it inefficient as a payment method for purchasing Tesla vehicles, which may also be a factor in Musk's change of attitude.

Musk is now promoting Dogecoin instead of Bitcoin. Given that Dogecoin's electricity consumption is only 0.12 kWh, Musk appears to have chosen Dogecoin as an alternative to Bitcoin from the perspective of energy efficiency. Furthermore, on the 13th, Musk tweeted that he is working with Dogecoin developers to reduce transaction times.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.