Bitcoin drops as Elon Musk says Tesla won't take it

The price of bitcoin fell below $50,000 Thursday morning after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a day earlier that the electric car maker would stop accepting the digital currency as payment for its vehicles.

Musk cited environmental concerns for the change in policy.

He also said that Tesla won't be selling any of the Bitcoin it owns.

The price of bitcoin slipped to $49,880 in morning trading Thursday, the first time it's been below $50,000 since early March.

Tesla shares were poised for gains early Thursday after falling 4.4% on Wednesday.

Tesla said in February that it had invested around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and it planned to begin accepting the digital currency as payment "soon."

The fair market value of Tesla's Bitcoin holdings as of March 31 was $2.48 billion, according to securities filings.

Bitcoin relies on computers, which rely on electricity, to exist.

The number of computers and the energy needed to power them is rising — the growing value of bitcoin is directly tied to the amount of energy it uses.

Bitcoin miners unlock bitcoins by solving complex, unique puzzles.

As the value of bitcoin goes up, the puzzles become increasingly more difficult, and it requires more computer power to solve them.

Estimates on how much energy Bitcoin uses vary.