Bitcoin Sets Fresh Records After Elon Musk Investment

Bitcoin has hit record highs for a second day after Elon Musk’s car company Tesla said it had bought about $1.5bn (£1.1bn) of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin rose above $48,000 (£34,820) before falling back, but it remains 28% higher than a week ago.

Some investors took Tesla’s move as a signal that Bitcoin would become a mainstream financial asset.

However, there was some criticism about a green car firm investing in such an energy intensive currency.

Bitcoin currently uses more energy than Argentina every year, according to analysis from the University of Cambridge.

Production of the cryptocurrency, known as “Bitcoin mining”, needs energy-hungry computer hardware and ever-greater amounts of processing power.

Mike Butcher, an editor at news website Techcrunch, tweeted: “Tesla: Sells carbon credits to buy Bitcoin, which requires as much energy (not always Green energy) as a small country to mine.”