This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market,” Musk said. In February this year, Tesla revealed it had bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and continues to hold most of it on its balance sheet.
Estimates for what percentage of renewable energy is currently powering the bitcoin network are inconsistent. A recent report estimated renewably-generated electricity made up almost 40% of energy consumed by the bitcoin network, however, a previous study put the figure at just over 70%, largely due to the abundance of hydro-electric generators in Southwest China and Scandinavia—both major bitcoin mining hubs.
The bitcoin price jumped by around 5%, climbing toward $40,000 per bitcoin, following Musk’s confirmation Tesla plans to eventually resume its bitcoin support.
Bitcoin crashed from its peak of around $65,000 in April, with its sell-off exacerbated in May by Musk pulling the plug on Tesla customers using bitcoin for purchases, citing the bitcoin network’s eye-watering energy demands that have spiked in the last few months.
“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,” Musk announced in May, sending shockwaves through bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets.