'Stick To Space Elon,' Billboards Criticizing Musk Over Bitcoin Stance To Appear Across US

National Football League player Russell Okung is putting up billboards aimed at Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk due to his recent utterances on Bitcoin (BTC), Decrypt reported Thursday.

What Happened: The billboards feature an image of the player with “Stick to Space Elon” emblazoned on them in capital letters. Also featured is a URL to the “Bitcoin is” educational website.

See Also: How to Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

The football veteran is a Bitcoin supporter who has converted half his NFL salary into the apex cryptocurrency. He also launched the “Bitcoin is” campaign.

The billboards have begun to appear in Miami, Florida ahead of the Bitcoin 2021 conference. The campaign also plans mobile billboards in proximity to the SpaceX launch facility in Brownsville, Texas and Tesla’s facility in Santa Clara, California.

Stick to space, Elon. @RussellOkung pic.twitter.com/a7J2WiXBN6

— Bitcoin 2021 (@TheBitcoinConf) June 2, 2021

Okung is pushing back the narrative that Bitcoin is bad for the environment, a stance recently taken by Musk as Tesla announced it was suspending payments denominated in cryptocurrency.

“Bitcoin is humanity’s best shot at freedom. The public narrative needed correction as Elon apparently misunderstands its true benefit to our species,” Okung said, as per Decrypt.

BTC traded 5.85% higher at $38,848.17 at press time over a 24-hour period. The cryptocurrency has fallen 40.14% from an all-time high of $64,863.10 it touched on Apr. 14.

Why It Matters: Bitcoin’s downwards march began last month after Musk tweeted the Tesla payment suspension. It was compounded by China where some authorities cited the environment as a factor for a crackdown on cryptocurrency mining.

Musk held discussions with North American cryptocurrency miners in May which he called “potentially promising.” The entrepreneur said that the miners have committed to publishing current and planned renewable usage in a tweet. 

See Also: Cathie Wood's Ark On Tesla Stopping Bitcoin Payments Says Concerns Over Energy Consumptions Are 'Misguided'

At the same time, Musk came out in support of Dogecoin (DOGE) and asked his followers on social media to contribute to the development of the cryptocurrency by submitting ideas on GitHub and Reddit. 

On Musk’s influence on Bitcoin, Okung told Decrypt, “No individual is a threat to Bitcoin in the grand scheme of things. In Elon’s words, it is inevitable. His impact on Bitcoin is temporary.”

Price Action: On Wednesday, Tesla shares closed nearly 3% lower at $605.12 in the regular session and fell another almost 0.5% in the after-hours trading.

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Photo by Heisenberg Media on Flickr