Elon Musk’s ambitious endeavors to reduce overspending and inefficiencies within the US federal government may not have succeeded, but they could have led to his evolving stance on Bitcoin.
So, why is @elonmusk finally discussing Bitcoin’s fundamental link to physics and energy?
As @DSBatten insightfully points out, Elon has personal experience with attempting to curb unnecessary government spending with @DOGE.
“He’s run that experiment and he knows that it is not possible… pic.twitter.com/pmLodj8Yf6
— Gareth Jenkinson (@gazza_jenks) December 1, 2025
The founder of Tesla and SpaceX gained traction on social media after stating that Bitcoin is destined to take the place of fiat currency due to its intrinsic relationship with physical energy. Musk made these remarks during a dialogue with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath:
“Energy is the true currency. That’s why I say Bitcoin is based on energy.”
“You can’t legislate energy. You can’t just pass a law and suddenly have a lot of energy. It’s very difficult to generate energy, or especially to harness energy in a useful way to do practical work,” Musk articulated.
Understandably, the trending video was widely circulated by Bitcoin supporters and industry professionals. This is also one of the first instances in years that Musk has publicly addressed Bitcoin. He went on to inform Kamath that society could eventually transition away from the existing fiat currency-based system.
“We probably won’t have money. We’ll just have power generation as the defacto currency,” Musk remarked.
DOGE failure pushed Elon back to Bitcoin
Bitcoin mining advocate Daniel Batten shared on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction show that Musk’s unsuccessful attempts to aid the Trump administration in managing excessive government expenditures have inevitably shifted his view on the financial system.
Now, this is a show I’ve wanted to do for a while!@DSBatten, Bitcoin misinformation detector and bringer of receipts, joined @gazza_jenks and me to talk @elonmusk‘s wise words, the media’s portrayal of mining, and the slew of Strategy stories.https://t.co/o7Y28Q9yoI
— Robert Baggs (@rkbaggs) December 1, 2025
“Elon’s been on a journey because he started off sincerely believing that it was possible to rein in government spending within a fiat-based economic system. And he had to run that experiment, set up DOGE and have it fail,” Batten noted.
Related: SpaceX moves $257M in Bitcoin, reignites questions over its crypto play
Batten pointed out that Musk’s initiatives to get the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) involved in tackling the US’s mounting debt ultimately became an experiment that unveiled the truths of fiat monetary policy.
“He knows that it is not possible to rein in government spending when you have access to infinite money printing; therefore, there must be a system that disconnects money from the capacity for infinite printing.”
Batten added that Musk’s background in physics suggests he’s now coming to understand that energy-backed monetary systems are inherently resistant to inflation.
“Thanks to his physics background, he’s clearly realized that energy is not something you can just create out of thin air. That’s a far superior approach to establishing sound money. Thus, he is gradually arriving at the conclusion that Bitcoin is the answer.”
Bitcoin mining’s perception is finally changing
Batten also commented on the evolving perception of Bitcoin’s environmental impact in recent years. During the 2010s, mainstream media consistently depicted Bitcoin’s energy consumption as decidedly harmful to the environment.
Such reports and the prevailing narrative have largely been challenged by various academic papers and research findings, including Cambridge’s 2024 Digital Mining Industry Report.
Batten expressed that European policymakers have been particularly swayed by years of misleading reports regarding Bitcoin’s environmental footprint.
“They’ve established policies based on factually incorrect soundbites that suggest Bitcoin is energy-intensive per transaction, which it is not.”
Batten clarified that Bitcoin’s energy consumption stems primarily from mining, not from individual transactions, a critical distinction as the network could theoretically facilitate thousands more transactions without additional energy expenditure.
“The moment you quantify it on a per-transaction basis, it insinuates something quite misleading—that it’s unscalable, because as you scale, the energy consumption would also rise. Many regulators in Europe are still under that impression,” Batten added.
For an in-depth exploration of Bitcoin mining, check out Cointelegraph’s 2025 Bitcoin mining deep dive.
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