Bitcoin dips below $50,000 as Musk calls energy usage ‘insane’

The turnaround by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, one of crypto’s loudest believers, took investors by surprise and sent prices tumbling across the board.

Tesla Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk doubled down on his attack on Bitcoin’s energy demands, calling recent consumption trends “insane.” Musk posted a chart on Twitter from the University of Cambridge showing Bitcoin’s electricity consumption has skyrocketed this year. It’s the second day he’s criticized crypto mining for using fossil fuels and comes after an announcement that Tesla would suspend car purchases using Bitcoin. The turnaround by one of crypto’s loudest believers took investors by surprise and sent prices tumbling across the board. Bitcoin plunged 15% at one point to below $50,000 during Thursday’s session. Exchange operator Coinbase Global Inc. sank as much as 5.3% and other tokens including Ether and Dogecoin slumped.