Bitcoin rose by over 8% on Wednesday after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that he holds significant amounts of the cryptocurrency.
“I might pump, but I don’t dump,” Musk said during a discussion at The B Word conference with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood. “Outside of Tesla and SpaceX stock, it’s my largest holding.”
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that only exists in digital form and is not regulated by any central bank. It is protected from counterfeiting via encryption and transmitted via blockchain technology.
Musk added that Tesla will likely begin accepting bitcoin as a valid form of payment once the “mining” process becomes greener. Previously, the electric vehicle manufacturer suspended the use of bitcoin over environmental concerns that conflicted with its mission.
“It looks like bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewables and a bunch of the heavy-duty coal plants that were being used… have been shut down, especially in China,” said Musk as quoted by CNBC. “I want to do a little more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50% and that there is a trend toward increasing that number. If so, Tesla will most likely resume accepting bitcoin.”
“Long-term, renewable energy will be the cheapest energy, but it doesn’t just happen overnight,” Musk added. “But as long as there is a conscious and determined, real effort by the mining community to move toward renewables, then obviously Tesla can support that.”
On Tuesday evening, the cryptocurrency was trading below $30,000. By early afternoon on Wednesday, it had risen to nearly $32,900. At the time of this article’s publication, it is trading at $32,100.
As The Daily Wire reported in June, Musk and Dorsey had previously interacted on social media about hosting a bitcoin discussion.
“Bicurious?” Musk responded to a tweet from Dorsey about The B-Word Conference. “Oh right… Bitcoin haha.”
Dorsey responded: “Bizarre! Let’s you and I have a conversation at the event. You can share all your curiosities…”
“For the Bitcurious? Very well then, let’s do it,” said Musk.
Cathie Wood — who is known on Wall Street for seeking value through innovative companies and sectors — filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create the “ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF,” which would attempt to track the value of the digital currency.
According to the filing, Ark Invest’s ETF is composed of cryptocurrency startups such as Binance, Bitfinex, Bitflyer, Bittrex, Bitstamp, Coinbase Pro, Gemini, HitBTC, Huobi, Kraken, KuCoin, and Poloniex. However, Wood is also attempting to purchase bitcoin itself.