Published 08:54 IST, February 11th 2021
Elon Musk says he bought some dogecoin for son, sparks 16% surge in currency
“Bought some dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler”, Tesla boss Elon Musk said on Twitter, as he sent the digital currency’s market value sky-high
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday skyrocketed the prices of meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin after he made claims that he bought Dogecoin for his son X Æ A-Xii with Canadian musician Grimes. “Bought some dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler”, Tesla boss said on Twitter, surging altcoin's prices by 16 percent. Musk had earlier sent the digital currency’s market value sky-high after he had tweeted a picture of a rocket with a trail tweet “Doge”, he had later endorsed the altcoins saying, ”Dogecoin is people's crypto. No highs, no lows, only Doge” in a tweet. Billionaire entrepreneur had earlier added the term Bitcoin to his Twitter bio, then deleted it shortly thereafter, which led to a jump in the cryptocurrency price by as much as 20 percent. On Clubhouse, an audio-based social app, Musk said, ”Bitcoin is a good thing" and that he was "late to the party”, surging the prices of Bitcoin.
Musk’s tweets, however, have been condemned by venture capitalist Nick Carter and former hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz, both of whom called Musk’s enthusiasm for the digital token “disconcerting”. In an interview with CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Wednesday, co-founder of data firm Coin Metrics, Carter said in a live-streamed address that he was concerned, because a lot of retail punters were “going to lose money on dogecoin”, referring to Elon Musk’s tweets. Calling dogecoin ‘empty shell for people’s expectation’, Carter said, the digital currency had nothing to offer in terms of technology. He told the network, that Dogecoin, which was seemingly ‘interesting and fun’ was now an 'empty husk’. However, with Musk launching tweets for the currency, it hit number 10 in virtual currency market value this week, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin
Earlier, Musk’s electric car manufacturing company Tesla made an announcement that it bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, adding that the firm will start accepting bitcoin as payment for the purchase of Tesla motors. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing with the DC office, the electric cars manufacturer said that it was buying the cryptocurrency for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.” It added, the company will accept bitcoin in exchange for its products “subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis.”
Updated 08:54 IST, February 11th 2021