We love you Elon Musk, but your chart on Bitcoin’s energy usage has been debunked: 75% of Bitcoin miners use renewable energy

Yesterday, Tesla announced it would stop accepting bitcoin for car purchases over concerns about the environmental impacts. In a tweet, Elon Musk said that Tesla “suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin,” out of concern over “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining.”

So, what caused Musk’s bitcoin reversal? Musk cited environmental concerns as the reason for the reversal. According to his tweet, Musk said Tesla is “concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.”

Musk’s announcement immediately sent shock waves across the crypto world as $365 billion wiped off the global cryptocurrency market. His tweet also sent crypto into a rollercoaster mode with Bitcoin dropping to nearly $46,000 before rebounding.

It didn’t end there. Musk also faced backlash on social media, and according to a report from Bloomberg, the announcement was met with anger and confusion – along with some harsh pushback from crypto experts and retail investors, who debunked Musk’s argument and questioned Musk’s decision to stop accepting the digital currency for EV purchases due to concerns over fossil-fuel use.

As much as we love Elon Musk, we think he’s wrong on this one. According to the Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study conducted by the University of Cambridge, the study shows that 76% of cryptocurrency miners use electricity from renewable energy sources as part of their energy mix. Cambridge University also wrote in the study that:

“Hydroelectric power is the most common source of energy for miners. Almost 62% of miners are reported to be using hydroelectricity. Coal and natural gas sources take the second and third spots at 38% and 36%, respectively.”

Meanwhile, crypto entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano debunked Musk’s claimed over the type of energy used to mine digital currencies. According to two sources cited by Pompliano, 75% of the electricity used to mine Crypto comes from renewables.

To support his decision, Musk later posted another tweet where he shared the findings from CBECI.org about energy usage trend over the past few months. “Energy usage trend over past few months is insane https://cbeci.org,” Musk tweeted.

Energy usage trend over past few months is insane https://t.co/E6o9s87trw pic.twitter.com/bmv9wotwKe

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021

In response to Musk’s chart, Pompliano said:

https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1392603286839115776

In another tweet, Pompliano responded to a tweet from CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin where he defended Musk’s decision, Pompliano said: ”

“Unfortunately, this is inaccurate. The whole “bitcoin is bad for the environment” has been debunked many times. It is one of the leading drivers for renewable energy R&D in the world and majority of miners run on renewable energy.”

https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1392609905929080834

Pompliano is not alone. Billionaire Mark Cuban also weighed in. In his reply to Musk’s tweet, Cuban said:

“We at http://Mavs.com will continue to accept BTC/Eth/Doge because we know that replacing Gold as a store of value will help the environment https://nytimes.com/2005/10/24/world/behind-golds-glitter-torn-lands-and-pointed-questions.html and https://moneyweek.com/investments/alternative-finance/bitcoin/602678/bitcoin-energy-consumption shrinking big bank and coin usage will benefit society and the environment”

We at https://t.co/VUydpLFzGh will continue to accept BTC/Eth/Doge because we know that replacing Gold as a store of value will help the environment https://t.co/bs7NvnJY8A and https://t.co/ELhbuLOBRV shrinking big bank and coin usage will benefit society and the environment https://t.co/zu08F0STEQ

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 12, 2021

Below is a Twitter video of Pompliano debunking Musk’s statement on CNBC.

https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1392799370102312962