Elon Musk’s ambitious aim to address excess spending and inefficiencies within the US federal government may have faced challenges, yet it could have sparked his evolving perspective on Bitcoin.
So, why is @elonmusk finally discussing Bitcoin’s fundamental link to physics and energy?
As @DSBatten articulately points out, Elon has experienced firsthand the challenges of curbing excessive 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 significant attention on social media after proposing that Bitcoin could succeed fiat currencies due to its intrinsic relationship with physical energy. Musk shared these insights during a discussion 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 enact a law and instantly create a surplus of energy. It’s extremely challenging to generate energy, especially to harness it for practical applications,” Musk expressed.
Unsurprisingly, this viral moment resonated widely among Bitcoin supporters and industry professionals. It also marks one of the first occasions Musk has publicly addressed Bitcoin recently. He advised Kamath that society could shift away from the existing fiat money system.
“We probably won’t have money. We’ll just have power generation as the de facto currency,” Musk asserted.
DOGE failure pushed Elon back to Bitcoin
Bitcoin mining advocate Daniel Batten informed Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction show that Musk’s unsuccessful attempts to assist the Trump administration in addressing excessive government spending have inevitably influenced his view of 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 journey illustrates how he initially believed it was feasible to control government spending in a fiat-based economic framework. However, he conducted that experiment, established DOGE, and witnessed its failure,” Batten noted.
Related: SpaceX moves $257M in Bitcoin, reignites questions over its crypto play
Batten emphasized that Musk’s attempts to engage the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to confront the US’s mounting debt resulted in an epiphany regarding fiat monetary policy.
“He understands that it is impossible to control government spending when there’s an infinite capacity for money printing, necessitating a mechanism that dissociates money from the potential for unrestricted printing.”
Batten remarked that Musk’s physics background indicates he is realizing that energy-backed monetary systems are inherently resistant to inflation.
“Given his physics expertise, he seems to be concluding that energy cannot be manufactured out of thin air. This represents a significantly superior method for establishing stable money. Therefore, he is gradually gravitating toward the conclusion that Bitcoin is the answer.”
Bitcoin mining’s perception is finally changing
Batten also discussed the evolving perception of Bitcoin’s environmental consequences over recent years. Throughout the 2010s, mainstream media frequently depicted Bitcoin’s energy consumption as highly detrimental to the environment.
This narrative has been significantly challenged by numerous academic studies, including Cambridge’s 2024 Digital Mining Industry Report.
Batten asserted that European policymakers have been disproportionately swayed by years of misleading reports about Bitcoin’s ecological impact.
“They’ve constructed policies based on the factually incorrect notion that Bitcoin consumes excessive energy per transaction, which is simply untrue.”
Batten clarified that Bitcoin’s energy consumption stems directly from mining as opposed to individual transactions, a detail he described as critically important to comprehend since the network can theoretically handle thousands more transactions without necessitating additional energy expenditure.
“The moment you create this per-transaction metric, it suggests something insidious—that it lacks scalability because energy use would correspondingly rise as you scale up. Many regulators in Europe maintain this belief,” Batten added.
For an in-depth exploration of Bitcoin mining, be sure to check out Cointelegraph’s 2025 Bitcoin mining deep dive.
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