[ad_1]
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own.)
SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk watches him visit the construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany on May 17, 2021.
NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) – Tesla boss Elon Musk said on Sunday that his electric car maker would allow customers to re-transact with bitcoins when the creation of new coins becomes more climate-friendly. Tesla’s on-off relationship is a big factor in the value of cryptoassets: Musk’s latest remarks sent him back above $ 40,000. He did, however, set an incredibly high bar.
So-called bitcoin miners use loads of energy to generate a new coin every 10 minutes or so. The University of Cambridge estimates the use of cbeci.org at 97 terawatt-hours annualized, roughly the amount of electricity produced in Virginia. Knowing how green it is, however, is impossible. A crypto report estimated here, renewables made up 39% of the mix last year; another here, a year earlier, claimed that bitcoin was already predominantly green.
The problem is, bitcoin energy hunger is built in. The amount required to mine means that no one can take control of the system, which is part of its appeal. As long as the price of bitcoin warrants its mining, and Musks’ comments help to do so, dirty fossil fuel owners have an incentive to keep burning. (By John Foley)
On Twitter twitter.com/breakingviews
Capital Calls – More Concise Information About Global Finance:
German eyewear IPO displays digital vision
Philips Snafu may prompt assessment health check
Vet IPO ignores the animal-free trend
Bidens Big Corn Battle
Paris insurance crisis ends in humiliating defeat
Breakingviews
Reuters Breakingviews is the world’s leading source for agenda-setting financial information. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect big business and economic stories from around the world every day. A global team of around 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provide real-time expert analysis.
Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.
[ad_2]
picture credit