On 12 May 2021 Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla had suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin, citing rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for mining and transactions, especially coal. Cryptocurrency, he said, was still “a good idea on many levels” but not at great environmental cost. Tesla would not sell its bitcoin. It would look at other cryptocurrencies that use a small fraction of bitcoin’s energy per transaction, and would use bitcoin for payments again if mining moved to more sustainable energy. Tesla had only begun accepting bitcoin for cars in late March. The 8 February 10-K that disclosed a $1.5 billion purchase is a different page. Do not collapse a treasury into a till.
China’s mining crackdown lands later this month. That is a state committee, not a tweet. Keep them apart even though the energy argument rhymes.
What happened
A merchant turned off a payment rail. Customers who wanted to buy a car with bitcoin cannot, this week, on Tesla’s site. Holders of bitcoin as an asset still hold bitcoin. Proof of work still uses electricity; that was true in February when Tesla bought. The new fact is a company deciding the brand and the rail no longer fit.
Why it matters
Celebrity merchants move prints. They do not write BIPs. If you cared about paying for a Tesla in BTC, you had a product change. If you cared about the asset, you had a headline. See how buying crypto actually works. See the February treasury piece for the balance-sheet chapter.
What happens next
A red candle, an argument about kilowatt-hours, and a later maybe. Nothing here is an instruction to buy, sell, or hold bitcoin or Tesla stock.
