On Monday, after the cryptocurrency market crash came to an end, Tesla CEO Elon Musk clarified in a tweet that Tesla did not sell any bitcoin. According to Bitstamp, the tweet sent bitcoin trading prices back up $2,000 in the short term.
Taiwan’s MegaHub reports that as of 14:37 p.m. Taipei time on May 17, bitcoin was trading at $44,568, a rebound of about $2,300 or about 5% from its previous low, while other major currencies were also off their lows, with ethereum standing back above $3,400, ripple back at $1.418, and dogcoin re-challenging $0.49.
This comes after Musk hinted on Twitter on Sunday afternoon (May 16) that Tesla may have sold its remaining bitcoin holdings, causing the cryptocurrency’s price to plummet.
Musk’s actions were questioned by many, with one user commenting that “bitcoin investors will be slapping themselves next quarter if they find out Tesla sold off its remaining bitcoin holdings. At the time, Musk replied “Indeed (Indeed),” but didn’t specify.
Early Monday morning local time, Musk tweeted that, to clear up some speculation, Tesla had not sold any bitcoin.
Musk’s tweet
Last week, Tesla also said it was “suspending the use of Bitcoin to purchase vehicles” due to concerns about “the rapid increase in fossil fuels used for Bitcoin mining. After Musk’s announcement, the price of bitcoin fell about 5 percent in the first few minutes.
But Musk said the company plans to hold rather than sell the bitcoin it already owns and intends to use it for trading as it transitions from the mining industry to more sustainable energy sources.
Musk has been a big proponent of cryptocurrencies, helping to push up the price of digital currencies, including bitcoin, several times in the past year. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February, Tesla revealed that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The company later said bitcoin sales netted $101 million in the quarter, helping it post a record first-quarter net profit.
In recent weeks, Musk has seemingly changed his stance in favor of “dogcoin” to further advance its development. His aerospace company SpaceX announced last week that it would accept dogcoin as payment for the launch of the DOGE-1 mission to the moon. His attitude has prompted some trading companies to accept dogcoin, helping to push up the price of the cryptocurrency.
Trading platforms Robinhood and Binance already allow users to trade dogcoins. Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase said it will launch the cryptocurrency in the next six to eight weeks.
Recent Comments