Tesla will not accept bitcoin says Elon Musk

Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases with Bitcoin, citing concerns about the impact of the cryptocurrency on the climate, the company's CEO Elon Musk declared on Twitter. "We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst fuel emissions," Musk wrote on Wednesday. Bitcoin, the world's largest digital currency by market value, fell around 8 percent after the tweet, as per to data from cryptocurrency trade Coinbase.

"Cryptocurrency is a great idea on several levels, and we consider it has an encouraging future, but it can not cost the environment very much," Musk wrote.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief is an ardent proponent of cryptocurrencies and has inspired major movements in the digital currency market this year, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

In January, Bitcoin rose when Musk posted #bitcoin on his Twitter message. Its Midas cryptocurrency was released again in February after Tesla announced in regulatory documents that it had purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and that people could use the cryptocurrency to buy Tesla's electric vehicles.

As Bitcoin has scaled-down new heights this year, climate activists have raised the alarm about the significant amounts of energy consumed by Bitcoin mining. This is when mining tools that contain powerful computers - sometimes thousands of them work together - race to verify Bitcoin transactions to win new coins.

Bitcoin quarrying consumes as much power annually as the whole country of Argentina, researchers at the University of Cambridge assessment, while China worldwide accounts for about 65 percent of Bitcoin mining.

That carbon footprint contradicts Musk's support for clean energy. But he does not give up on Bitcoin.

Musk said in a tweet on Wednesday that Tesla would not sell any of its Bitcoin and that the electric vehicle manufacturer intends to keep the cryptocurrency for transactions "once mining moves to more sustainable energy".

He also declared that Tesla is looking at more power-efficient cryptocurrencies.