Tesla may Accept Bitcoin Payments Again

Reacting to a report that held him responsible for the Bitcoin price manipulation, Tesla & SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, has been trending again as he tweeted that Tesla will resume accepting BTC payments for Tesla cars “when there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend…”.

It all started when South Africa’s richest woman and CEO of Sygnia, Magda Wierzycka, called for an investigation into Elon Musk for manipulating Bitcoin price. Wierzycka claims that Musk manipulated the price of Bitcoin with a series of Twitter mentions and announcements, and hence, he should be held accountable for the price plunge, noting “what we have seen with Bitcoin is price manipulation by one powerful and influential individual”.

She also said that Musk might have accumulated more Bitcoins when the prices were moderate and pumped the price with the announcement of BTC payments for Tesla cars. She claimed similar instances with Dogecoin prices in the past, and the SEC was also rumored to investigate about the same.

Bitcoin And Elon Musk – A Love-Hate Relationship?

Elon Musk has been one of the most popular Bitcoin proponents for a long time. He has extended his support to Bitcoin in several instances with positive mentions and has even added the Bitcoin logo on his Twitter profile. It was believed that his mentions always had a positive effect on Bitcoin prices, and hence people bought more Bitcoins following his mentions.

When Tesla announced it would accept Bitcoin as a method of payment for Tesla cars in February, Bitcoin prices started rising rapidly. Unfortunately, Bitcoin for Teslas was short-lived, as Musk announced the withdrawal of Bitcoin as a method of payment, citing the Bitcoin mining process as environmentally hazardous.

Musk mentioned that Bitcoin mining is not greener and hence hazardous for the environment. Musk, along with the CEO of MicroStrategy, Micheal Saylor, also held talks with the miners from North America and pushed a “Greener Bitcoin” narrative, which was fruitful to some extent.

However, it was speculated that withdrawing Bitcoin payments might be due to Tesla looking to enter a multi-billion dollar US market for Renewable Credits. According to some unnamed sources, Tesla is hoping to get some profit from Biden’s administration to march towards zero-emission goals. The electric-car company is one of the eight companies with a pending application at the Environmental Protection Agency tied to power generation and renewable credits.

Bitcoin Price Surges

Bitcoin price was under pressure for a long time after Elon Musk announced the withdrawal of BTC payments. It was trading within a very narrow range, and a boost was needed to propel BTC prices to reach $40,000. However, with the recent tweet from Elon Musk mentioned at the start of this article, Bitcoin prices swelled nearly 10%.

Musk might be attempting to regain his lost image in the crypto space as he received severe backlash from the crypto community. Many Bitcoin proponents canceled orders for Tesla cars after Musk's tweet that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. The negative backlash may have compelled Musk to come forward to rebuild his tarnished image.