- Bitcoin has almost undone three and a half months’ worth of positive price and dropped to $42,200
- The reasons for the drop appears to be related to the escalating war of words between Elon Musk and the Bitcoin community
- Musk continued to praise Dogecoin as a better alternative to Bitcoin
Bitcoin has continued on its downward trajectory following an escalation in the war of words this weekend between Elon Musk and the cryptocurrency’s supporters. The relationship that in past times helped propel Bitcoin to new heights has soured dramatically, with Musk implying that Tesla has sold all its Bitcoin holdings before reversing tack this morning, and saying that he is working with Dogecoin developers on creating a better version of the cryptocurrency.
Musk Continues His Anti-Bitcoin Campaign
Musk has been getting the crypto world’s backs up ever since he announced that Tesla was no longer accepting Bitcoin for cars because of environmental concerns, an act that saw the Bitcoin price drop in itself, but this weekend saw Musk alluding to the possibility that Tesla had sold all its Bitcoin holdings:
Indeed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2021
This was followed by a number of tweets discussing how one of the world’s richest (and, you would have thought, busiest) men was working with Dogecoin developers to increase the transaction volume by 100x and reduce fees by 100x:
Ideally, Doge speeds up block time 10X, increases block size 10X & drops fee 100X. Then it wins hands down.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2021
These pro-Dogecoin tweets came a week after he referred to it as a “hustle” on his Saturday Night Live appearance. Musk also spent time replying to random tweets regarding his market manipulation antics with laughing emojis, suggesting that finds the whole thing hilarious.
Suggested Tesla Sale Prompts Collapse
The reason for Bitcoin’s drop to the low $42,000s however seems to be the suggestion that days after saying they were still holding their bitcoin, Tesla has in fact sold its $1.5 billion bitcoin stash. Such an act would in fact be more in keeping with Tesla’s shift in sentiment toward Bitcoin and would at least make Musk less of a hypocrite, although it once again raises the suggestion that Musk had no idea how Bitcoin is mined at the time of the purchase.
However, Musk then tweeted this morning to state that Tesla had NOT sold any of its Bitcoin holdings, so at this point who knows what to believe:
To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2021
The entire unsavory episode is once again proving the sway that Musk has over the cryptocurrency markets, and the only hope now is that Tesla has sold all its Bitcoin and the entire episode can be consigned to history.
