Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      How a dowdy database maker became an investor darling

      18 June 2025

      Who let the dogs order? Sixty60 now delivers for Fido

      18 June 2025

      Starlink to South Africa: ‘We are ready to invest’

      17 June 2025

      Vodacom CEO Joosub bags R71m in pay – but taxman will take a big cut

      17 June 2025

      Major rift opens between Microsoft and OpenAI

      17 June 2025
    • World

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Cryptocurrencies » Elon Musk conveniently ignored bitcoin’s inconvenient truth

    Elon Musk conveniently ignored bitcoin’s inconvenient truth

    By Agency Staff13 May 2021
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    Elon Musk. Kirstine Rosas/Pixabay

    When electric car maker Tesla said in February it would buy US$1.5-billion worth of bitcoin and start accepting it as payment, billionaire boss Elon Musk had little to say about the cryptocurrency’s wasteful energy consumption — despite the obvious inconsistency with his firm’s green credentials.

    And when fellow bitcoin bulls Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wood last month backed a report claiming that combining cryptocurrency mining and renewable energy projects could be good for the environment, Musk praised the paper as “true”, even though its optimistic and overconfident assumptions smacked of greenwashing.

    So, while it’s an encouraging development to see Musk’s latest tweet acknowledging bitcoin’s inconvenient truth, namely that energy-inefficient mining algorithms by some measures consume more power than entire countries, the speed of his overnight conversion is a little discombobulating. Not least for the crypto fans hanging on Musk’s every word, who were stung by the $365-billion or so wiped off the market’s value following Musk’s decision to halt support for bitcoin payments.

    Cheap and abundant power is essential to crypto miners, with coal accounting for an estimated 38% of their supply

    Taking the tweet at face value — which is dangerous with a Pied Piper character like Musk — suggests that the alternative energy facts being pumped into the room by bitcoiners weren’t gaining traction.

    Cheap and abundant power is essential to crypto miners, with coal accounting for an estimated 38% of their supply, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Estimates of the bitcoin network’s total energy consumption vary widely but run from 20 to 80 terawatt-hours in 2019 to more than 100TWh this year. Despite the efforts of celebrity backers such as Dorsey and Wood in pushing narratives about renewable mining, the laser-eye crowd never came close to debunking energy concerns.

    Speculative hoarding

    Musk’s move may also indicate that Teslas weren’t flying off the shelves as a result of accepting bitcoin payment. Another inconvenient truth about bitcoin is that its huge price swings and artificially limited supply make it much better as a tool for speculative hoarding than for buying things — which can be a taxable event. In late March, a Tesla representative told CoinDesk it wasn’t clear if any cars had been paid for with the cryptocurrency. The company later disclosed it had netted $101-million in income from selling about 10% of its own bitcoin holdings.

    Tesla’s U-turn also suggests that the hype around the company’s bitcoin support may not have been worth the questions and doubts from institutional investors who are increasingly paying attention to environmental, social and governance factors. “Can sustainability investors consider owning companies associated with crypto?” UBS economist Paul Donovan wondered in February. Musk has made the question a little easier to answer, even if he says Tesla will still keep its own bitcoin pile.

    Perhaps it isn’t a coincidence that this is happening amid a broader shift in financial markets. Inflation fears and bond yields are rising and eating into optimistic moonshot investments. The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index is down this week; shares of Wood’s ARK and Tesla have fallen sharply. Bitcoin is still above $50 000, but after an 8% fall in three days it’s hardly behaving like an unbeatable inflation hedge.

    Image: Aleksi Räisä

    Musk has left just enough fuel in the tank to avoid abandoning his crypto disciples completely. By leaving the door open to using tokens that are less wasteful than bitcoin, he’s hedging his bets on the future of money — and reserved the right to keep trolling the Internet as a result. On Tuesday, he asked his followers whether Tesla should accept satirical bitcoin spin-off dogecoin, shortly after calling it a “hustle” on Saturday Night Live. Ether, meanwhile, aims to move away from a mining model based on computational “work” towards one powered by existing coin “stakes”. Alternative models are out there.

    Still, the more Musk blends payment U-turns, social media memes and stand-up comedy, the harder it will be to detect where the future of money ends and the “hustle” begins. Which might be the whole point.  — By Lionel Laurent, (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP



    Bitcoin Cathie Wood Elon Musk Jack Dorsey Tesla top Twitter
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleSafaricom in talks to bring M-Pesa support to Amazon.com
    Next Article Latest Naspers value-unlock plan met with investor scepticism

    Related Posts

    Starlink to South Africa: ‘We are ready to invest’

    17 June 2025

    Up to Icasa whether Starlink gets a licence: Malatsi

    11 June 2025

    EV bloodbath in China

    9 June 2025
    Company News

    Sage brings together HR leaders to explore the future of payroll and people management

    18 June 2025

    Altron: a brand journey, a birthday celebration and a bet on Joburg’s future

    17 June 2025

    7 benefits of social media integration in WordPress

    17 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.