I have to disagree here. Elon is the lame one.
He does a 180 on Bitcoin within 3 months, based on environmental concerns, which everyone already knew about.
He does it while spewing misinformed nonsense that makes him sound like he just discovered Bitcoin last week. He’s trashing Bitcoin while pumping a literal joke coin as some kind of “solution”.
Elon is not taking any of this seriously and no one should take him seriously.
I have to say I kind of like it. One of the biggest draws to Bitcoin is the decentralization. There’s no leaders that are able to corrupt the vision or mold it to their liking. What better way to prove that than kicking out the richest guy in the world, a global icon, because he doesn’t get it?
To borrow Elon’s phrase, in retrospect it was inevitable. Elon is an eccentric egomaniac who has risen to the level of richest man on the planet due almost solely to government largesse and subsidy. He’s a creation of the fiat system. He was always going to have issues with a system that can’t be directly gamed by his money or influence.
As far as Bitcoin’s mining and electricity use, it is substantial, but I reject that this use of electricity has to be justified, while other don’t. Also, the energy mix is constantly improving.