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Bitcoin’s price jumped about 4% on Monday afternoon after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted he was talking to "North American Bitcoin Miners," according to CNBC. The cryptocurrency was trading just over $38,000, according to Coindesk, when Musk tweeted at 3:42 pm ET:
“[The miners are] committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.”
Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2021
Bitcoin’s price promptly surged to $39,500 in the next few minutes. This comes as nothing new seeing as the cryptocurrency’s price has swung wildly each time the billionaire comments on it.
Related: The Founder of Bitcoin Will Have a Statue in Budapest
Musk has been a long-time fan of cryptocurrencies. His company Tesla owns approximately $1.5 billion in Bitcoin.
But on May 12th, Musk tweeted the company would no longer accept cryptocurrency as payment due to environmental concerns. Computers used to generate or “mine” bitcoin use energy derived from fossil fuels, namely coal.
Environmental impact was also on the table at Musk’s meeting with some bitcoin miners and led to the development of a Bitcoin Mining Council to promote sustainability, according to Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor.
This week’s price action follows a massive Bitcoin sell-off last week when the U.S. and China took steps to tighten tax compliance and regulation on cryptocurrencies.