A U-turn by Tesla Inc. on Bitcoin final week despatched the cryptocurrency market plunging by a whole bunch of billions of {dollars} and brought on some loyalists to vary their tune towards CEO Elon Musk.

Musk cited issues about “quickly growing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, particularly coal,” in a Twitter submit saying Tesla would cease accepting the digital foreign money for automobile purchases. The reversal got here simply two months after Tesla sparked a Bitcoin rally by saying it had invested $1.5 billion within the foreign money and would start accepting it from patrons.

The about-face occurred just a few days after a remark Musk made whereas internet hosting “Saturday Night time Dwell” brought on one other cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, to lose vital worth. Musk referred to as Dogecoin “a hustle” on the late-night sketch comedy present, throughout which he portrayed Wario from Nintendo’s Tremendous Mario Bros. franchise and likewise disclosed that he is on the autism spectrum.

Dave Portnoy, the Barstool Sports activities founder who has develop into a inventory market and cryptocurrency pundit, blasted Musk for “pulling the levers just like the Wizard of Oz on crypto” and stated he was now not an “Elon fanboy.”

“Elon Musk simply tried to tank Bitcoin,” Portnoy stated. “Yeah, the identical Elon Musk who had Bitcoin on Tesla’s spreadsheet and their stability sheet so Tesla can present a revenue on the finish of 1 / 4 as a result of they don’t seem to be promoting automobiles, now all of a sudden Bitcoin’s dangerous.”

Within the hours after Musk’s tweet, cryptocurrencies misplaced $365 billion — greater than 4 instances the worth of Common Motors.

Musk stated Tesla would hold its Bitcoin holdings and resume acceptance after mining — the energy-intensive course of of making bitcoin utilizing high-powered computer systems — switched to extra sustainable power sources.

“He is nonetheless beating the drum,” Robert Lutts, chief funding officer at Cabot Wealth Administration in Massachusetts, told Reuters. “He is a grasp of promoting. … Everybody on the planet is speaking about Elon Musk and Bitcoin proper now. Is that good for promoting automobiles? Rattling proper, it’s.”