Kimbal Musk: Tesla knew little about Bitcoin’s environmental impact

A member of Tesla’s board, Kimbal Musk, brother of founder Elon Musk, told TechCrunch that when deciding to buy Bitcoin for $1.5 billion they had no idea about its environmental impact.

In an interview held on the stage of the Ethereum conference in Denver, the entrepreneur stressed:

«We were very ignorant when investing in Bitcoin. We had no idea about its impact on the environment; it seemed to us a good means of saving and a way to diversify assets. And, of course, it didn’t take long to receive a million — I’m not joking, probably at least a million — messages about what we were doing to the environment».

According to him, the company did not deem it necessary to regret the cryptocurrency investment. He himself expressed hope that, in a broad sense, the blockchain industry would move toward a more environmentally friendly infrastructure.

Kimbal Musk noted that his charitable organization Big Green moved its governance model to a DAO using a less energy-intensive network than Bitcoin.

«I don’t really agree with the environmental impact of cryptocurrency, but I like what it does», — he said.

After investing in digital gold, Bitcoin, in March 2021, Tesla began accepting it as payment for electric cars. However, less than two months later отказалась от решения, citing concerns about the environmental friendliness of mining.

In June, Elon Musk stated as a condition for resuming the option that no less than half of Bitcoin miners switch to renewable energy.

In January 2022, Tesla began selling certain goods for the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Prior to that, the company had not ruled out возобновления приема платежей в биткоине.