Cryptocurrency plunges to new lows today after a tweet by Elon Musk.
Cryptocurrency saw the major lows after a tweet and hence the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin dropped from around $54,819 to $45,700, its lowest since March 1, in just under two hours following his tweet shortly after 2200 GMT.
Bitcoin plunged as much as 17% after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla Inc had stopped accepting bitcoin to purchase its vehicles due to climate concerns
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, also followed a similar pattern, and dropped 14% to touch a low of $3,550.
“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk wrote in his tweet.
Tesla, earlier this year, had announced that it bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and would accept it as payment for cars which was one factor why the digital tokens’ witnessed surging price this year.
As a result, Musk’s comments roiled markets even though he added that Tesla will not sell any bitcoin and will resume accepting the bitcoin as soon as mining transitioned to more sustainable energy.