A swift fact-check has just unraveled the rumors surrounding Tesla’s alleged addition of Bitcoin (BTC) to its payment page source code. Colin Wu, a prominent Chinese reporter, took to Twitter to dispel the speculations and set the record straight.
Contrary to the buzz in the crypto community, it has been confirmed that Bitcoin and Dogecoin were, in fact, already embedded in Tesla’s source code as far back as January 2023 based on information retrieved from the web archive. According to Wu, Tesla made no attempts to edit its source code when it previously discontinued the option to pay with Bitcoin.
However, Tesla has not remained entirely static on the rising speculation matter. According to the Chinese reporter, the tech giant has taken action to eliminate the “bitcoin” reference from the source code of its payment page. Interestingly, the “dogecoin” code string remains based on checks by Wu.
In 2021, Tesla halted Bitcoin payment for vehicle purchases, citing concerns about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, particularly the use of coal. Tesla emphasized that it views crypto as a promising concept with numerous advantages. However, it theorized that such progress should not come at the expense of our environment.
Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of MicroStrategy, voiced a counter-opinion in response to Tesla’s decision.
Saylor argued that the energy consumption related to a Bitcoin transaction is not an additional burden but serves to secure the entire crypto-asset network. He further claimed that considering all factors, the net impact on fossil fuel consumption over time would be negative.
