Cryptocurrency markets were down earlier on Wednesday, after a year of record highs and immense success. Leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have also suffered losses over the last week or so, as share prices dropped by 28.66% and 32.13% respectively, reported National World. 

The market crash followed electric car manufacturing company, Tesla’s decision to no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles, as announced by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla, Elon Musk last week. Musk’s shocking Twitter post stating Bitcoin’s limitations like its hazard to nature and the cost it bears has had an immediate impact on the value of Bitcoin, as it dropped $6 billion, a move that has sent tremors down the crypto market.

Also read | SpaceX to accept Dogecoin as payment for ‘DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon’

“Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel”, said Musk on Twitter on May 13. “Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment”.

 The cryptocurrency market was blown with another hit as China said that it would block initial coin offerings, block exchanges, and also alarmed about speculative trading, reported National World.

Also read | Bitcoin lowest since February after China warns against cryptocurrencies

Tesla began accepting Bitcoin for payment in February 2021, and it came after the carmaker bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin shares, which sent the price of both Tesla and Cryptocurrency flying, reported National World. But the recent statements made by Musk and environmentalists about Bitcoin seemed to have had a significant impact on it.