Elon Musk, who defended crypto-currencies on numerous occasions, announced in a tweet that Tesla, the US manufacturer of electrical vehicles, has decided to suspend sales in bitcoin.

According to Elon Musk, the move is influenced by the environmental impact brought about by the increasing use of fossil fuels, especially coal, to generate the energy required to mine bitcoins, about which the company is concerned.

The currency fell almost 8 percent on Thursday, and is at around 50,400 dollars.

At times it fell as much as 14 percent, and it was close to 46,000 dollars, according to Bloomberg. On Wednesday, the bitcoin was down more than four percent.

The value of bitcoin is currently a long way (about 14,400 dollars) from the all-time high of 64,869 dollars that it hit on April 14.

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