U.Today - Founder and chief executive of Bitcoin-focused company Jan3 Samson Mow has posted a cat meme, mentioning Elon Musk and Bitcoin maximalist Preston Pysh and poking fun at the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO for his criticism of the Bitcoin consensus algorithm.
Elon Musk, rocket science and PoW
Samson Mow accompanied his meme with a comment, stating: “Proof of Work isn't rocket science. But it might as well be!”This refers to Elon Musk's statements made before his acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022. While he claimed that he wanted to acquire Twitter to preserve the “town square for free speech,” the legacy media began heavily criticizing him with articles whose titles were worded something like “Elon Musk Is Finding Out That Free Speech Isn’t Rocket Science” (an article by The New York Times).
However, Mow’s tweet bears a reference not only to that but also to the criticism of the proof-of-work consensus algorithm on that Bitcoin runs. In early 2021, Musk shocked the cryptocurrency community and the financial world by announcing that Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and started to accept Bitcoin payments for its electric automobiles. It happened in February. However, in April, Musk closed down that payment option, expressing concerns about Bitcoin mining based on the proof-of-work algorithm being harmful to the environment.
Back then, many Bitcoiners pointed out that the original meme cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, supported by Musk so much is also based on the proof-of-work algorithm, but Musk never responded to them.
SpaceX still holds Bitcoin
He stated that Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin once BTC miners around the world begin basing at least 50% of their operations on renewable energy. This level of green technology usages was achieved in the same year. However, Tesla still has not reinstated Bitcoin as a payment option.Still, earlier this week, Musk shared on a podcast that SpaceX continues to hold Bitcoin, and he still holds his DOGE. Nothing was mentioned about Tesla, but as reported earlier, the e-car producing giant has been gradually selling its Bitcoin stash but is believed to still be holding some BTC.
This week, Bitcoin took a major step forward as the SEC regulator finally approved 11 filings on opening spot Bitcoin ETFs submitted by various Wall Street giants last year.