Elon Musk responds to Tesla bitcoin rumour in tweet

Elon Musk has responded to rumours Tesla is planning to dump its bitcoin as critics lash him for his ongoing rhetoric against the cryptocurrency.

Elon Musk has appeared to shut down rumours that Tesla is planning to sell off its bitcoin after his rhetoric against the cryptocurrency sent it plummeting.

The Tesla founder has been ramping up his dispute with bitcoin in recent weeks, with one particularly cryptic tweet leading many to believe his company was preparing to dump its holdings of the cryptocurrency, further sending the price tumbling.

But now Mr Musk claims his company hasn’t sold any of the more than $1 billion bitcoin it holds.

“To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any bitcoin,” Musk tweeted on Monday in response to a user accusing him of triggering the cryptocurrency’s fall with his tweets.

To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2021

It comes after a Twitter exchange on Sunday with user @CryptoWhale sent the cryptocurrency community into a frenzy.

“Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings. With the amount of hate @elonmusk is getting, I wouldn’t blame him …” the Twitter user said.

Mr Musk responded by writing: “Indeed.”

Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings.

With the amount of hate @elonmusk is getting, I wouldn’t blame him…

— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) May 16, 2021

Any move by Tesla to dump its bitcoin holdings would likely have a major impact on the bitcoin price

Mr Musk rocked the market last week when he announced Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin.

“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” the CEO of Tesla Motors said in a statement.

“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.

“Tesla will not be selling any bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy.

“We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use (less than 1 per cent) of bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”

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Elon Musk has ramped up his rhetoric against bitcoin. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

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The price of bitcoin immediately plunged in the wake of Tesla’s announcement and Mr Musk’s cryptic tweet, at one point falling below $43,000 ($A55,300).

The latest data from Coin Metrics shows the price of bitcoin has seen small recovery, trading at $44,164 ($A56,800).

Bitcoin mining uses vast amounts of energy to power specialised computers solving complex but useless mathematical problems.

And according to a Citigroup report released last month, bitcoin mining is “consuming 66 times more electricity than it did back in late 2015, and the carbon emissions associated with it will likely face increasing scrutiny”.

“As of mid-April, global power demand by the bitcoin network probably reached an annualised 143 terawatt-hours, about 4 per cent higher than Argentina’s total electricity generation in 2019”, the report said.

Mr Musk’s stinging criticism of bitcoin has stunned investors, given his vocal support of cryptocurrency, but it seems he may be turning is attention elsewhere.

Dogecoin has become the fourth biggest cryptocurrency this year, largely off the back of Mr Musk’s promotion.

After one of his recent bitcoin attacks, Mr Musk tweeted about dogecoin.

“Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency,” he wrote. “Potentially promising.”

Dogecoin immediately jumped as much as 20 per cent, helping it recover some of the losses from last week’s crash.