Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue to recover after a steep drop over the past weekend.
The price of Bitcoin is approaching $40,000 U.S. again after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted that he has held discussions with Bitcoin miners regarding the sustainability of the digital coin.
Bitcoin stood at $37,961.32 U.S. in premarket trading Tuesday (May 25) after its price rose more than 4% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk. Other major cryptocurrencies are also higher early Tuesday.
Ethereum’s price rose more than 13% in the last 24 hours to $2,550.62 U.S., while Dogecoin has seen its price rise more than 7% to 34 cents U.S. per coin.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest and most widely held cryptocurrency, jumped minutes after Elon Musk tweeted: “Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.”
The coin initially jumped 4% to $39,824.81 U.S. a few hours later, before falling back to almost $38,000 U.S.
Bitcoin mining takes vast amounts of energy. As a result, Bitcoin has a carbon footprint comparable to that of New Zealand, producing 36.95 megatons of CO2 annually.
Musk has been a big supporter of cryptocurrencies, sparking rallies in the prices of digital coins, including Bitcoin, several times in the past year. His tweets and comments around cryptocurrency often send prices rising or falling.
In a February regulatory filing, Tesla revealed that it bought $1.5 billion U.S. worth of Bitcoin and would accept it as a form of payment. The company later said it registered a net gain of $101 million U.S. from sales of Bitcoin during the first quarter, helping to boost its net profits to a record high.
Bitcoin’s current rally comes after turmoil in the cryptocurrency markets that saw its price fall below $32,000 U.S. on Sunday.
