Elon Musk can be rightfully called the cryptocurrency endorser and manipulator as Tesla CEO has yet again rattled the digital coins through his social media posts and has exacerbated the woes of the crypto investors. This comes after not so welcoming weekends for cryptocurrencies for past some time. Stating or rather endorsing, at various occasions, that cryptocurrency is the future money, on Sunday, Musk contradictingly tweeted that “Goods & Services are the real economy, any form of money is simply the accounting thereof.”
This emphatically led to Bitcoin’s average swing on Saturdays and Sundays to stand at 5.35%. According to reports, the world’s largest digital coin slipped to trade around $35,541 in New Delhi. This was significantly down by 4.12%.
After brutal criticism and trolling from crypto investors, Musk sought to defend his position on Bitcoin in his own way. He cautiously tweeted that “Don’t kill what you hate, save what you love”.
Mr. Musk’s recent charade is not novel or new founded but one of the many in a series of conscious manipulations. Recently, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had again tried to manipulate the crypto market by solemnly stating that the electric-vehicle manufacturer, Tesla was suspending purchases using Bitcoin, triggering a slide in the digital currency.
In a post on Twitter, Musk had cited those concerns about “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions,” were a problem and had signaled that Tesla might accept other cryptocurrencies if they were much less energy intensive. But yet again to mitigate the slump in the market caused by his tweet, he cited that the company won’t be selling any of the Bitcoin it held.
Due to his harmless yet debilitating tweet the largest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 15% to just above $46,000, before paring some of the retreat. It was down about 6% to $51,210. This emphatically also affected the tokens such as Ether and Dogecoin which reportedly slid along with Bitcoin.
It is to be noted that Musk’s move came after Tesla had disclosed in February that it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and had planned to accept it as a payment. That announcement had immensely added legitimacy to the cryptocurrency as an increasingly acceptable form of a payment and an investment. This was due the fact that the endorsement had come especially from a large member of the S&P 500 with a high-profile CEO who commanded a big following among retail investors and the general public.
Musk’s latest move that hints at a potential split with the cryptocurrency, extends its downtrend for a second day after a cryptic tweet from Elon Musk.
How has China contributed in crypto downfall?
Recently, a Chinese social-media service, Weibo, appears to have blocked some crypto influencer accounts on Saturday. It reasons cited for the same were that the accounts violated unspecified laws and Weibo community rules. While, it is to be noted that Weibo has cracked down on various cryptocurrency-related accounts in the past years. The news came at the backdrop of recent harsh Chinese regulatory rhetoric that have already led to a plunge in prices for many digital coins.
The strict stand adopted by the Chinese authorities, come after Chinese’s solemn pledge to reduce carbon footprint and be a neutral carbon power by 2030. This has led Magnolia to pass crippling orders to curb the high energy usage caused by crypto mining.
However, as per reports, Bitcoin continues to fluctuate in a narrow range, a retest of the $30,000 level could also be in play until more positive catalysts emerge