decrypt.co
Investors are worried about the environmental impact of Bitcoin—and it’s partly down to Twitter loudmouth and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
That’s according to a new report from financial news website Investing.com. The site surveyed 1,103 investors, and about a third said they only learned how terrible Bitcoin mining is for the environment after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO trashed the coin’s carbon footprint on Twitter.
Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021
Musk had initially helped the coin reach new highs. Bitcoin rose 8.5% to $44,790 after Tesla disclosed that it had bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin in February, and continued to soar until April, when it hit its all-time high of $62,000.
Then Musk crashed the market when he said his car company would stop accepting Bitcoin, citing environmental concerns. Powerful computers, often powered by coal, use entire countries-worth of electricity to crunch complex sums necessary to process Bitcoin transactions.
Musk’s comments, which preceded a much stronger crackdown on Bitcoin from China, contributed to a huge sell-off, and the price of Bitcoin swiftly cut in half.
Of the Bitcoin investors that Investing.com spoke to, 30% said they sold Bitcoin last month when the market was in freefall. A fifth said they sold because of Musk’s criticism of the gas-guzzling Bitcoin mining industry.
Bitcoin has struggled to hit its all-time highs ever since. Of course, China has dominated the news ever since it cracked down on crypto trading and Bitcoin mining.
But 58% agreed that Elon Musk, the CEO of electric car company Tesla, “has too much power.” 52% said they want their governments to stop people like Musk from manipulating the markets.