Musk also responded to allegations of ‘pump-and-dump’ on bitcoin.

At [7:30] PM ET on Sunday, June 13, bitcoin had rallied nearly 9% to $38,911 after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) would commence accepting bitcoin for its cars when there was evidence of the use of clean energy in crypto mining. (Bitcoin.com)

The Tesla “techno-king” wrote on Twitter:

“When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.”

Presumably, the tweet had a positive impact on bitcoin:

Elon sidelined in Bitcoin Mining Council

The Bitcoin Mining Council, which launched last week with the mission to “promote transparency, share best practices, and educate the public on the benefits of bitcoin and bitcoin mining,” said clearly on its website:

“Elon Musk has no role at the BMC. The extent of his involvement was joining an educational call with a group of North American companies to discuss Bitcoin mining.”

It may be recalled that the Bitcoin Mining Council was born amidst strident criticism of the amount of dirty (fossil-based) energy used in its mining. Musk tweeted on May 25:

“Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.”

While sidelining Musk, the BMC said Michael Saylor was one of the “key members of the BMC, both as a facilitator and Bitcoin supporter.”

Techno-king refutes pump-and-dump allegation

In the same Sunday tweet, Musk attempted to straighten the record on a Coin Telegraph article that quoted Magda Wierzycka, one of the richest women in South Africa and CEO of financial services company Sygnia (JSE: SYG), to say:

“The [Bitcoin] volatility we have seen is an unexpected function of what I would call market manipulation by Elon Musk,” said Wierzycka. “If that happens to a listed company, he would be investigated and severely sanctioned by [the] SEC.”

Wierzycka also alleged that the Tesla CEO “sold a big part of his exposure at the peak,” after tweeting a number of bullish comments about bitcoin, including the carmaker’s $1.5 billion purchase of bitcoin.

Musk responded to the Coin Telegraph article by tweeting:

“This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market.”

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Image of Elon Musk: Flickr