Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla will accept BTC again
2 min readTesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attended the virtual BTC conference “The B Word”, which took place yesterday. Musk said Tesla would start adopting BTC again, and reiterated its renewable energy goals for the industry.
Tesla will probably start accepting payments at BTC again
“I want to do a little more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy used in BTC mining is at least 50% or more,” Musk said during the conference. “If so, Tesla will most likely resume receiving BTC.”
Tesla began receiving BTC in March and then suspended payments a month later due to energy concerns. Musk did not state the date by which he expects BTC payments to resume.
However, Muske’s statements suggest that payments can be resumed relatively soon. He noted that the BTC mining industry was “moving much more towards renewables” and added that some of the largest BTC miners using fossil fuel energy had been shut down in China.
What cryptocurrencies do Elon Musk hold?
During the conference, Musk revealed his personal investments in cryptocurrencies and his company’s investments. “I own BTC, Tesla owns BTC, SpaceX owns BTC, I personally own a little Ethereum and of course I keep Dogecoin,” he said.
Musk later clarified that his companies only invested in BTC itself. He added that he too had primarily invested in the largest cryptocurrency, with his shares of BTC being of much greater value than his ETH and DOGE.
Musk did not disclose any investment amounts. However, Tesla is known to hold BTC worth approximately $ 1.4 billion.
Also noteworthy is Musk’s commentary on SpaceX. Earlier this year, SkyBridge CEO Anthony Scaramucci believed that SpaceX held BTC, but Musk has not confirmed this until yesterday.
Starlink could help with scaling
Musk also discussed concerns about BTC permeability. He agreed with BTC’s critics that the cryptocurrency blockchain “simply cannot scale” many transactions worldwide, and said a second tier was needed.
However, Musk added that higher data requirements for blockchain node operators could be possible as Internet bandwidth increases. He noted that his company will help increase bandwidth. “If no one else does, Starlink will,” Musk said of SpaceX’s satellite Internet services.
Musk also acknowledged the possibility of incorporating mining equipment into SpaceX Starlink terminals and space heaters.
