Bitcoin Price Tanks Amid Environmental Concerns

The cryptocurrency markets have been thoroughly shaken up by the Bitcoin pullback. While BTC is still the most valuable token in the world, it has fallen from exchange levels that suggested $60K would have been a point of resistance. Many people still believe that Bitcoin will be the next major move in financial technology, but this sentiment is starting to fade because of recent comments made by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.

As the digital currency marketplace matures, more and more people begin to believe Bitcoin's valuation gains; this will likely mean there will be an upward price-performance, but we simply cannot ignore fundamentals such as car buyers not being able to pay for new Tesla electric vehicles with Bitcoin. Elon Musk has gotten out of the Bitcoin game because he has serious concerns about the carbon footprint generated by mining of this token. Let's not forget that the Tesla business model hinges up reducing carbon emissions, and this is something that Bitcoin mining does not contemplate.

There are so many factors that can help drive the price of Bitcoin back up to the $50,000 mark; it should not be an impossible scenario to reach. However, there are reasons why the Bitcoin price could be approaching $30,000 next week, and they have to do with fundamental news updates.

In the United Kingdom, police detectives recently dismantled what they believed was an indoor hydroponic marijuana farm, but what they found instead was a Bitcoin mining operation that was stealing electricity from the local grid. The thermal detection drone deployed to find the source of the illicit operation reported a heat signature that prompted officers to believe they had uncovered a major cannabis growing operation; needless to say, they were surprised to find the mining rigs.

The massive electricity consumption of Bitcoin is not limited to mining operations; this is the way transactions are cleared and the blockchain network stays alive. In other words, the carbon footprint of Bitcoin approximates the annual electricity consumption of New Zealand. Now that we know more about the BTC carbon footprint, it is easier to understand why higher currency exchange prices may not be sustainable.