The crypto market is facing a tough start to the week amid continuing concerns about the climate impact of cryptocurrency and further comments by Elon Musk.
Mr Musk – who has publicly become more sceptical about bitcoin in recent days – initially suggested that Tesla could have sold its vast bitcoin holdings. He later denied it, which helped the price steady but not recover.
It follows public statements from the Tesla chief executive that he was concerned about the climate impact of the cryptocurrency. He has also said that he is working to make it cleaner, including discussions with engineers working on dogecoin.
The latest comments come amid a difficult time for the cryptocurrency market. Overall, it is down 8.23 per cent over the last day, according to tracking website CoinMarketCap, losing $2.1 trillion.
That hit every major cryptocurrency. Bitcoin was down 8.5 per cent, ethereum down 9.3 per cent, and dogecoin continued to have trouble, having lost 5.5 per cent over the last day.
Even Cardano – which promotes itself as a sustainable coin, and so has weathered some of the losses that have hit others – was down more than 9 per cent, though it has still gained almost 25 per cent over the last week.
