Bitcoin loses all gains since Musk comments in February

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin has lost its gains after a rise in value in February when Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that his company would accept the cryptocurrency to purchase Tesla vehicles, Bloomberg reported.

Bitcoin took a dive of almost 22 percent to $35,000, a decrease that has wiped out more than $500 billion from the currency’s peak market value, according to Bloomberg. 

The decrease marks almost a complete loss in gains since Tesla announced Feb. 8 that it would buy Bitcoin and accept the currency to buy the company’s electric vehicles. At its peak, Bitcoin was worth over $64,000. 

Other cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin and Ethereum also fell over 40 percent, according to the news outlet. 

The news comes after a series of dizzying tweets from Musk about the cryptocurrency that threw investors last week. Musk that his company has suspended sales of vehicles using Bitcoin, citing concern of rapid use of fossil fuel for Bitcion’s mining and transactions. 

Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021

“We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk said in a statement posted to Twitter. 

“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,” he continued.

He later shared on Twitter Monday that the company hasn’t sold any of its Bitcoin.