Elon Musk has been receiving a truckload of criticism from market players ever since he put out his comments about Bitcoin’s energy usage, which he considers intensive and unsustainable. The billionaire reckons that until the energy consumption level of the asset reduces, his EV car company Tesla will stop accepting payments in Bitcoin.
Congressman pokes at Elon Musk’s motives for supporting Dogecoin
The cryptocurrency community didn’t receive Musk’s comments lightheartedly. Top Bitcoin proponents like MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, Morgan Creek’s Anthony Pompliano, and Bitcoin’s stock to flow creator Plan B, responded similarly, concluding that Musk was either misinformed or was purposefully spreading FUD. Now U.S congressman is calling out the Billionaire for the same reason, saying “It’s disappointing to see things he’s talking about.”
In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Congressman Warren Davidson is seen expressing his disapproval towards Elon Musk’s show of support for Dogecoin, implying that the Billionaire who had previously had a run with the SEC for market manipulation accusations, could be caught up in yet another battle with the regulatory body.
“To see somebody as smart as Elon Musk talking about Dogecoin… I don’t know, why would you do that? Everyone is kind of speculating about his motives, but I would say look, he’s kind of run right up against the line with the SEC in terms of market manipulation in the past, I hope he kinda stays clear of that.” said Davidson.
Despite criticism from many leading cryptocurrency personalities on Musk’s involvement with Dogecoin, the Billionaire seems to be far from exiting the meme-coin market anytime soon. Earlier this month, Musk asked his Twitter followers if they’d be interested in accepting Doge as a payment option at Tesla. He also disclosed his interest in working with Doge developers to build the network. Doge seems to be gaining a lot of traction these days as investment from the likes of Mark Cuban aided the asset to dominate the retail traditional market.
Davidson also addresses the state of energy usage in firms like Tesla and Google, in comparison to Bitcoin, saying that:
“He’s [Elon Musk] talking about energy consumption of all things, I don’t know, Tesla uses a good bit of energy. The whole thing runs on energy. It’s different than gasoline for sure, but you gotta power the plants quite a lot.”
He adds that even Google searches take up energy and other industry players are not willing to give up their energy consumption. As far as renewable energy remains crucial to environmental growth, the congressman believes Bitcoin mining will play a huge role in sustaining that.
“Whatever people are mining cryptographically, the benefits are to do it with renewable energy because the cost is low, it’s a sustainable system and the growth is there. The United States would really be smart to try to see renewable energy grow and frankly, one of the ways to see renewable energy grow is to increase mining activities.” He said in conclusion.
