Bitcoin up 8 per cent as Elon Musk says Tesla will ‘likely’ accept currency again

Entrepreneur says he will do more ‘due diligence’ to ensure currency is using more renewable energy

Bitcoin up 8% as Elon Musk says Tesla will ‘likely’ accept currency again (Getty Images)

Bitcoin’s price jumped by eight per cent as Elon Musk said Tesla was “likely” to accept the cryptocurrency again.

The entrepreneur announced in May that his electric vehicle company was suspending the use of Bitcoin to buy its cars out of a concern over the environmental impact of digital mining.

Bitcoin, the biggest of the cryptocurrencies, has seen a huge sell-off since Mr Musk made the announcement, and earlier this week fell below $30,000 for the first time in 2021.

The price of Bitcoin was up 8.53 per cent over 12 hours, according to Coindesk on Wednesday afternoon.

The technology billionaire was speaking at The ₿ Word conference on Wednesday, alongside Twitter CEO and prominent crypto advocate Jack Dorsey.

“It looks like Bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewables and a bunch of the heavy-duty coal plants that were being used ... have been shut down, especially in China,” said Mr Musk.

“I want to do a little more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50 per cent and that there is a trend toward increasing that number. If so, Tesla will most likely resume accepting bitcoin.”

And he added that he personally, and both of his high-profile companies, had held onto Bitcoin as the price tumbled.

“SpaceX, Tesla, and I own Bitcoin,” he said.

“We’re not selling any Bitcoin, nor am I selling anything personally or nor is SpaceX selling any Bitcoin.”

Tesla disclosed in February that it had invested $1.5bn in Bitcoin, and that it had sold off some in the first quarter of 2021 at a $101m profit.

The company started taking Bitcoin for its vehicles in March before reversing course 49 days later.

“I might pump but I don’t dump,” added Mr Musk.

“I definitely do not believe in getting the price high and selling or anything like that. I would like to see Bitcoin succeed.”