Tesla, Elon Musk and Bitcoin have been on-again, off-again so many times it makes, well, Bitcoin look quite stable and balanced.
The background: Earlier this year, Musk announced that Tesla had bought a shed load of Bitcoin ($1.5 billion of the stuff).
A short while later, Musk said that Tesla would start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles in the US.
It was the wet dream of Bitcoin nerds and Tesla stans everywhere. But environmentalists weren't so into it.
The problem: Unfortunately, Bitcoin uses a lot of energy, as much as some countries. And that's a big issue for those that care about the planet and largely see Bitcoin as nothing more than make-believe internet nerd money.
While the amount of energy Bitcoin uses isn't actually a problem, where that electricity comes from is a contentious issue.
There are huge Bitcoin mining farms in Iceland powered entirely from geothermal energy. These are fine, but in some parts of the world — China we're looking at you — they still use a lot of coal and fossil fuels.
Because no one has any clue what's going on with the Bitcoin network, it's kind of hard to definitively say how much renewable energy it's using. Some say 39% of it is powered by green energy, others claim over 70%. No one bloody knows for sure.
A change of heart: As a result, Tesla and Musk faced immense heat from environmental lobbyists. Which isn't exactly ideal for a company that's supposed to be making products that help the planet.
Following the clap back, the EV maker changed its mind about Bitcoin, removed it as a payment option, and began to laud its high energy demand.
Though, Elon Musk is now looking to change his mind again, saying Tesla will accept Bitcoin when it is certain that at least 50% of the network uses renewable energy.
Musk's mind changes more than the price of Bitcoin, huh.
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