Elon Musk, the Tesla
TSLA
The price of bitcoin has gone up since Musk’s bet on bitcoin but concerns about bitcoin’s huge carbon footprint have weighed on the cryptocurrency.
Now hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci, whose 2017 tenure as Donald Trump’s communications director lasted just 11 days, has said Musk has “done more to protect the planet against climate change “is a” living person “- and suggestions that Musk would invest in bitcoin if it were bad for the environment are called” absurd. “
Anthony Scaramucci was Donald Trump ‘s director of communications, a graduate of Harvard Law School and … [+]
The Washington Post through Getty Images
“No one has done more to protect the planet against climate change,” Scaramucci said of Musk via Twitter, adding that Musk “would invest in it [a] ‘dirty assets’ are unusual. [The] the future of bitcoin mining is renewable energy. “
According to Scaramucci, renewable energy is poised to replace fossil fuels while bitcoin becomes a major source of value in the world, replacing gold, equities and art.
“[The] response to energy [fear, uncertainty and doubt] is Elon Musk, “Scaramucci tweet. Skybridge Capital at Scaramucci, a New York-based hedge fund, started earlier this year the Skybridge Bitcoin Fund, offering investors rich with bitcoin.
But bitcoin, along with many other cryptocurrencies, has drawn much criticism for its high energy consumption in recent months as the high price of bitcoin has pushed bitcoin back into the obvious.
The latest analysis found that bitcoin now uses as much energy as the whole of Norway. This energy is expended when new unopened bitcoins are created – or “mined” – by computers solving complex calculations that also record transactions and secure the bitcoin network.
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates warned this month that “bitcoin is not a good climate thing,” raising fears that bitcoin’s high carbon footprint could grow as the price surging bitcoin attracts more people to it. “Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other known human method,” Gates told the New York Times
NYT
in a recent interview.
However, bitcoin supporters claim that a significant portion of its network uses renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity, wind, and solar – something they plan to grow as renewables become available. becoming cheaper and bitcoin miners looking to save money. For now, with many bitcoin mining networks located in China, fossil fuels like coal are still an energy source for cryptocurrency computers.
The proportion of renewables used by bitcoin and similar cryptocurrency miners around the world as part of their total energy consumption is thought to be as low as 39%, according to a recent study by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance.
The price of bitcoin has risen nearly 1,000% over the past year, reaching a total value of over $ 1 … [+]
Coinbase
At the same time, Scaramucci also made unconfirmed claims that Musk owns “more than $ 5 billion in bitcoin through Tesla, SpaceX, and personally.” While Tesla added $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin to its balance in Februay, Musk said last year it has just 0.25 bitcoins – worth around $ 15,000 at current prices.
SpaceX, the California-based aerospace maker that is also run by Musk, is not believed to have bought any bitcoin. SpaceX did not respond to a reqest for comment.