Will Tesla, SpaceX Dive Into Bitcoin? Elon Musk Praises Crypto, But Says ‘No’

For true believers, the inevitability cryptocurrencies will one day rule is as certin as the sun rising each morning. It’s only a matter of time, and the famous Elon Musk has added his authoritative voice to this argument -- albeit with a caveat.

The man who founded SpaceX and Tesla Motors stunned financial circles in a Wednesday podcast by declaring his belief cryptocurrencies offer an improved alternative to conventional currencies.

Asked during the podcast about about his thoughts on cryptocurrency, Musk answered by saying he believes bitcoin’s structure “is quite brilliant.”

He said cryptocurrency “bypasses currency controls. Paper money is going away. And crypto is a far better way to transfer values than a piece of paper, that’s for sure.”

However, Musk also said there are challenges that prevent the companies he own from going cryptocurrency. For one, there’s the undeniable fact the mining cryptocurrency is incredibely energy intensive, a fact no lost on Musk.

He said in the case of Bitcoin, for instance, he believes its use of a large computing network to secure its ledger is “computationally energy intensive.” For companies like his that aim to boost the adoption for sustainable energy, it may not be “a good use of Tesla’s resources to get involved in crypto.”

“It’s very energy intensive to create bitcoin at this point,” said Musk, which seems to open the door to future adoption should the process become less energy intensive.

There’s also the very problematic issue of scam artists and hackers that give cryptocurrencies a bad name. Musk himself, or his likeness, has been used by scam artists in illegal scams.

“Bitcoin and ethereum scammers were so rampant on Twitter I decided to join in and I said at one point wanna buy some bitcoin?” he joked.

Musk, however, said he won’t be getting Tesla Motors involved in cryptocurrencies despite his high praise for Bitcoin and his belief in the inevitability of cryptocurrency becoming the dominant financial infrastructure for the world.

“But I’m not sure that it would be a good use of Tesla’s resources to get involved in crypto.”

Crypto advocates believe one reason Musk is averse to crypto right now is his companies, notably SpaceX and Tesla, aren’t making money. So, there’s no sense in going crypto if you can’t make money in the real world.

But this picture might change when both of the Musk companies start making money in the future, which also seems inevitable.

When Musk does get his financial houses into order, crypto advocates feel he might make a serious foray into cryptocurrency. Advocates say crypto will create vast opportunities for Tesla to get involved in Bitcoin and Ethereum (which Musk also likes).