Published 14:47 IST, February 2nd 2021
Price of Bitcoin jumps again as Elon Musk says the cryptocurrency is a 'good thing'
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that "Bitcoin is a good thing" and added that he was "late to the party" in backing the world's biggest cryptocurrency.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's latest comment on the Bitcoin has led to a jump in its price on February 1. Musk said that he was a “supporter” of the cryptocurrency and that sent the bitcoin stocks flying. Musk has also changed his Twitter bio to '#bitcoin'. Now in a chat on social media app Clubhouse, Musk said that "Bitcoin is a good thing" and added that he was "late to the party" in backing the world's biggest cryptocurrency. He also said that Bitcoin is on the verge of getting broader acceptance by conventional finance people and further clarified that he did not have a “strong opinion” on other cryptocurrencies.
Netizens report jump in Bitcoin price
Following his comments, Twitter users reported a jump in Bitcoin price again. Those who were tuned in to listen to what Musk had to say about bitcoin. moved to the micro-blogging website to amplify his thoughts on the platform. Here are some the trending tweets;
Bitcoin had surged to above $38,000 on Friday after Musk changed his biography on Twitter to simply “#bitcoin”. His addition of bitcoin to his social media profile came after much speculation about whether the Tesla CEO will buy bitcoin or add the cryptocurrency to his electric car firm’s balance sheet. Musk even made headlines after a Twitter exchange with Michael Saylor, the CEO of software company MicroStrategy last month, which came after a tweet suggesting that he was tempted to buy bitcoin.
“If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favour, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to #BTC,” Saylor said at the time. In response, Musk said: “Are such large transactions even possible?”
Musk has a record of making market-moving comments on the site. Earlier, GameStop Corp, which has been at the centre of retail trading frenzy, surged 50 per cent after Musk tweet “Gamestonk”, along with a link to the Reddit Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion group. Bitcoin, on the other hand, jumped over 300 per cent last year, as bigger US investors and corporations sought exposure to the cryptocurrency. It also touched an all-time high of $42,000 last month. As per reports, the digital coin is still about 13 per cent off its all-time high but up around 25 per cent since the start of the year. Bitcoin more than quadrupled over the course of 2020, with crypto bulls citing increased institutional investment as a driving force of the rally.
Updated 14:47 IST, February 2nd 2021