Elon Musk Sends Bitcoin Tumbling With Stunning U-Turn On Payments

In a post on Twitter Wednesday, Elon Musk cited concerns about "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions," while signaling that Tesla might accept other cryptocurrencies if they are much less energy intensive.

Tesla Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the electric-vehicle manufacturer is suspending purchases with Bitcoin, triggering a slide in the digital currency. Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP In a post on Twitter Wednesday, Musk cited concerns about "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions," while signaling that Tesla might accept other cryptocurrencies if they are much less energy intensive. He also said the company won't be selling any of the Bitcoin it holds. The largest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 15% in Asian trading, sliding below $50,000, before paring some of the drop. It was down about 8% to $50,190 as of 10:53 a.m. in Tokyo. The were reports of outages at digital-token exchanges as people rushed to sell. Musk's move comes after Tesla disclosed in February that it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and planned to accept it as a payment. That announcement added legitimacy to the cryptocurrency as an increasingly acceptable form of payment and an investment, especially coming from a large member of the S&P 500 with a high-profile CEO who commands a big following among retail investors and the general public.