Tesla Inc has announced to discontinue the use of cryptocurrency Bitcoin to buy its vehicles due to environmental challenges, according to chief executive officer Elon Musk’s tweet on Wednesday. This comes after company’s position faced an uproar from environmental activists and shareholders.

Bitcoin, the biggest global cryptocurrency, dropped more than 11% after the tweet and was valued at $50,480 at the time. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock fell 4.42 percent to $589.89 on Nasdaq.

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Musk voiced worries about the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions” in a tweet on Wednesday, hinting that Tesla could consider other cryptocurrencies that are less energy-consuming. He added that the electric carmaker would not be selling any of the Bitcoin it owns.

In Asian trading, the biggest digital currency fell as much as 15%, slipping below $50,000, before recovering some of the losses. Around 10:53 a.m. in Tokyo, it had dropped almost 8% to $50,190. As people scrambled to sell, there were rumours of blackouts at digital-token exchanges.

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Some environmentalists and investors had expressed discontent at Tesla’s announcement in March that it will recognise Bitcoin. 

However, on Thursday, it retracted its previous statements. Musk stated that Tesla would not sell any of its Bitcoin and plans to utilise it for transactions as soon as mining moves to more environmentally friendly energy sources.

“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,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning.

“We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of bitcoin’s energy/transaction,” he added.