Cuban argues over Musk’s stance on Bitcoin by discussing the impacts of gold mining, amongst others.
Earlier in February, popular in an electric car company Tesla owned by the world’s second-richest man and Crypto-influencer, Elon Musk, had converted a part of its cash portfolio to Bitcoin. Following this was Tesla adding Bitcoin to its balance sheets. This was short-lived as Musk recently scraped out the crypto over energy inefficiency claims. Shark Tank star Mark Cuban has come to counter this by pointing out various forms of pollution and energy use of Bitcoin over Gold.
Major Updates
- Mark Cuban argues with Musk over Bitcoin energy claims.
- Dallas Mavericks continuously advocates cryptocurrencies over Gold.
- Coinshares reports Bitcoin's overall energy sources are 74% renewable.
- Hard rock mining made up America’s largest toxic waste reserve.
Following Tesla’s recent anti-bitcoin move, many negative sentiments have been attached to Bitcoin over its challenge of energy use and efficiency.
Musk had removed the Bitcoin crypto from Tesla's balance sheet, saying the coin was not energy-efficient. This was one of the main growth factors of the crypto dump that occurred last week. During this period, Bitcoin, as well as other altcoins, slumped significantly, some by over 50%.
It was the same reason Elon Musk had received heavy criticism over his contradictory views on cryptocurrencies.
However, his opinions have been countered by the Dallas Mavericks and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban. Cuban had been an advocate of Cryptocurrencies over Gold, and recently, the Dallas Mavs had announced to accept and hold onto cryptocurrencies for as long as possible.
Cuban first stated the impact of gold mining on the environment. This was a reference to an article published back in 2005 in the New York Times.
He stated that Gold mines were the equivalent of a large toxic waste dump, similar to other mental mines. It was deduced that hard rock mining accounted for the largest source of toxic waste in the entire United States. The Environmental Protection Agency recorded this. The clean-up would then cost around US$54 billion.
The second was another article from January this year published on Money Week. The article explains a large part of Bitcoin mining energy was from sustainable sources. It was reported that 74% of the energy utilized by Bitcoin was renewable.
Question of the Day
Do you think Bitcoin caused less harm to the environment than Gold?
