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Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

amycastor.com

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Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#121

Post by PurpleFoxy »

conception wrote: post #55
ForHackernews wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea. Maybe it's just a pump-and-dump scheme but he's doing crypto to steer clear of the SEC this time? Maybe he's trolling? Maybe he really is going off the rails?

When you're the richest person in the world, doing it for the lolz is probably not far from the truth of it.

Musk has mentioned a few times that he is in the Wallstreet bets discord. It looks like some of his recent posts like the dogecoin one are at the request of that group.

It’s just normal internet shitposting except you have real power.

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#122

Post by PurpleFoxy »

z77dj3kl wrote: post #67
jude- wrote: post #26

Point of clarity: Bitcoin transactions take negligible energy to produce and validate. It's block production that's energy-intensive, and it's the same regardless of how big or full blocks are. Like any energy-intensive industry that could operate profitably via fossil fuel consumption, mining should be regulated to only use green energy. No different than power production and consumption today.

You can't regulate Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin is not controllable in the same way as say, rare earth metal mining, where you can exert pressure on whoever is mining them (or whichever nation is exporting them). There's very little any government can do to pressure a mining farm in Far East Russia or Northern China to use green power for their operations. You can do Bitcoin mining almost completely offline. Once that mag…

That’s why a generic carbon tax should be used. There is no point punishing Bitcoin mining because bitcoin mining isn’t inherently bad, it’s the burning of fuels that is bad.

Countries should then tax imports from other countries that do not have a carbon tax.

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#123

Post by PurpleFoxy »

exclipy wrote: post #88
technotony wrote: post #60

Energy is the largest cost in bitcoin mining. Mining moves to the cheapest electricity locations. Renewables are already the cheapest energy source globally, and getting better. So in the mid-term bitcoin mining will move to renewable energy sources, problem solved.

If all the world's clean energy is consumed by bitcoin mining, then what energy does the rest of us use?

More clean energy. There is almost infinite energy raining down on us.

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#125

Post by zenexer »

blhack wrote: post #120
conception wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sell them to other companies for money and then spend that money? You cannot, however, spend market cap.

Is there a cryptocurrency exchange that accepts clean car credits in exchange for bitcoin?

To reiterate what the parent said:

1. Sell to other companies for USD

2. Trade USD for cryptocurrency

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#126

Post by twelve40 »

synaesthesisx wrote: post #66
danhak wrote: post #53

Here's my wild speculation on why Musk did this (and why it's brilliant) He knows there is a large and growing community of Bitcoin speculators and enthusiasts out there. By "endorsing" Bitcoin in this way, he not only moved the market--further enriching these folks--but also signaled that he is an ally to them, significantly boosting positive sentiment toward him and increasing the likelihood that they will purchase…

I don't think it's just a simple stunt. Apparently, the onboard computer on the latest Teslas is capable of mining BTC profitably at the current prices (allegedly). It would be amusing to have cars mine when idle/plugged in, or better yet have any unsold inventory mining 24/7 (since electricity can be written off as operational expenses). I wouldn't put it past Elon.

what does potential Tesla-based mining have to do with plowing a ton of cash into Bitcoin right now?

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#127

Post by p1necone »

centimeter wrote: post #109
p1necone wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just as true for bitcoin, and outside what I would consider the actual cost of running the financial system.

It’s not just as true for bitcoin; bitcoin doesn’t have an army of employees to make your transactions go through.

I misunderstood what you meant, but this argument still seems specious.

The people currently employed by the financial industry would not cease to exist if the financial industry did not need as many employees, they would find jobs elsewhere. The downstream effects of what people spend their wages on isn't part of the the actual impact of the industry they work for.

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#128

Post by [deleted] »

loceng wrote: post #116
ece wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For certain cases of attacks, yes with minority forks, and by destroying the attackers stake in other cases, see the section titled "Attacks are much easier to recover from in proof of stake" here: https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/11/06/pos2020.html

So why not just have a trusted centralized authority(ies), arguably democratically elected who control the system(s), and where there isn't a transfer of wealth weighted from late adopters towards earlier adopters?

[deleted]

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#129

Post by whycombagator »

01100011 wrote: post #64

What this tells me is that Tesla has too much cash and doesn't think investing that cash in its main business would produce gains comparable to BTC. Tesla believes in the profitability of BTC more than its own profitability or the profitability of one of Musk's other ventures. Sure, maybe they want to diversify but that's a hell of a lot of money to throw at such a volatile commodity.

> What this tells me is that Tesla has too much cash and doesn't think investing that cash in its main business would produce gains comparable to BTC

In the short term how could it?

Also, isn't a $1.5 billion investment by a big named company (Tesla & Musk of all companies/people) a self-fulfilling prophecy, in that it will assuredly pump BTC prices? A $1.5 billion punt on anything, especially BTC & considering the stock growth/capital raising recently, doesn't seem that wild to me.

Re: Tesla spent $1.5B in clean car credits on Bitcoin

#130

Post by whycombagator »

nexthash wrote: post #85
danhak wrote: post #53

Here's my wild speculation on why Musk did this (and why it's brilliant) He knows there is a large and growing community of Bitcoin speculators and enthusiasts out there. By "endorsing" Bitcoin in this way, he not only moved the market--further enriching these folks--but also signaled that he is an ally to them, significantly boosting positive sentiment toward him and increasing the likelihood that they will purchase…

Do you seriously think that Bitcoin enthusiasts are Elon Musk's target market? Bitcoin is useless and inflexible as a currency, and the massive risk definitely won't help bring Tesla any profit. Sounds more like market moving on his part designed to get publicity. Musk is known for making controversial decisions to increase his notoriety.

Well if I just made multiples of what a Tesla costs thanks to this move perhaps I practice some positive reinforcement & purchase a Tesla? Adding support for BTC payments just facilitates the transaction even more so
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