Elon Musk at It Again, Shares Cryptic Bitcoin Breakup Tweets
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Elon Musk issued a series of cryptic tweets about bitcoin that appear to suggest the billionaire has broken up with the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin was down about 5.5 percent at the time of writing, having experienced two sharp tumbles in price starting from Thursday night. The cryptocurrency is trading at about $36,450, and its market cap—the total value of bitcoin’s circulating supply—is around $680 billion.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, posted his tweets after the token had already dropped in price a little, and another quick drop followed. At around 9 P.M. EDT on Thursday Musk tweeted the bitcoin symbol and a broken heart emoji, along with a relationship breakup meme. He followed up a couple of hours later with another.
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It’s unclear whether the posts mean that Musk has made any moves with his personal bitcoin portfolio or Tesla’s holdings, but twitter users had lots of questions.
One wrote: “So it’s over? Has Tesla sold its bitcoin holdings or do you plan to keep holding?”
Other Twitter users were critical of Musk’s breakup comments, since the entrepreneur is believed by some to have an influence over the cryptocurrency market.
One wrote: “Please try to tweet responsibly and understand you are messing with people’s lives.”
Video: Jim Cramer on Elon Musk’s tweet driving down bitcoin: ‘This is a dice roll’ (CNBC)
Jim Cramer on Elon Musk’s tweet driving down bitcoin: ‘This is a dice roll’
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Last month, Musk sparked speculation that Tesla had sold its bitcoin portfolio after appearing to suggest that it had. Twitter user @CryptoWhale had said “bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their holdings.” Musk replied: “Indeed.”
He later tweeted: “To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any bitcoin.”
Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, made headlines earlier this year after it reported a $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin. The firm had announced the purchase in an SEC filing.
Tesla also said it would start accepting bitcoin as payment, allowing people to buy cars with the cryptocurrency if they wished. However, Musk later reversed that decision citing concerns over the environmental impact of bitcoin mining—the power-intensive process used to create the coins.
While the price of bitcoin fell after Musk’s tweet, it’s unclear if this was the sole cause. The cryptocurrency’s price continued to sink through mid-May.
Bitcoin reached an all-time high in mid-April when it traded at $64,863, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The wider cryptocurrency market is currently worth around $1.65 trillion, the site also states.
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