Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently confirmed that the company will not be accepting bitcoins for a car purchase. This option has been suspended over climate concern and the rapid use of fossil fuels.

Musk on Twitter shared that, Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin out of concern over the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining. The announcement shook the market as bitcoin’s price saw a significant drop of 5%.

“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” read the statement shared by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021

He further added that “Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.”

“Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin's energy/transaction,” ended the statement.

This news comes as contrary to what Elon Musk believes. The Tesla CEO has always been at the forefront, promoting the use of Bitcoin. Twitter users were quick to reply and debunk Musk’s idea. “Elon, you realize that 75% of miners use renewable energy, right? This energy story has been debunked over and over again,” wrote a user.

Back in February, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. In the same month, the company said that it will accept bitcoins as payment. Even though that service has now been suspended, Musk shared that the company will not be selling any bitcoin and will use it for other transactions.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban quoted Musk’s tweet and said that “We at http://Mavs.com will continue to accept BTC/Eth/Doge because we know that replacing Gold as a store of value will help the environment.”

We at https://t.co/VUydpLFzGh will continue to accept BTC/Eth/Doge because we know that replacing Gold as a store of value will help the environment https://t.co/bs7NvnJY8A and https://t.co/ELhbuLOBRV shrinking big bank and coin usage will benefit society and the environment https://t.co/zu08F0STEQ
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 12, 2021