Bitcoin surges after Elon Musk suggests a way for Tesla to resume accepting it
Bitcoin surges after Elon Musk suggests a way for Tesla to resume accepting it
Bitcoin reached a two-week high of just shy of $40,000 on Monday, following another weekend spent reacting to tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who fended off criticism over his market influence by stating that Tesla had sold bitcoin but may resume transactions using it.
Since Tesla announced a $1.5 billion bitcoin purchase in February and stated that it would accept the cryptocurrency as payment, bitcoin has risen and fallen in lockstep with Musk's views. He later stated that the electric vehicle manufacturer would not accept bitcoin due to concerns about the currency's mining process, which consumes a lot of energy and contributes to climate change.
"When there is confirmation that miners are using a reasonable amount of clean energy (50 percent) with a positive future trend, Tesla will resume Bitcoin transactions," Musk said on Twitter on Sunday.
Following that message, bitcoin rallied more than 9%, breaking above its 20-day moving average, and it climbed a smidgeon further in Asia to reach $39,838.92.
"The market had been undergoing another round of corrections over the weekend... until Elon Musk's tweet reintroduced Bitcoin as a payment method for Tesla purchases," said Bobby Ong, co-founder of cryptocurrency analytics website CoinGecko.
He added that the market was also bolstered by Software Company and major bitcoin supporter MicroStrategy, which raised $500 million to purchase bitcoin.
Bitcoin is up roughly 33% year to date, but has fallen from a record high above $60,000 due to a regulatory crackdown in China and Musk's apparent lack of enthusiasm for it. Telsa's stock price has fallen roughly 30% since the company acquired bitcoin.
Musk Respond to Magda Wierzycka
Musk's tweet was in response to an article based on remarks made by Magda Wierzycka, CEO of cybersecurity firm Syngia, who accused Musk of "price manipulation" and selling a "significant portion" of his exposure during a radio interview last week.
"This is false," Musk stated. "Tesla sold 10% of its holdings to demonstrate that BTC could be liquidated easily without affecting the market."
Musk stated in May that Tesla "will not be selling any bitcoin" and "has not sold any bitcoin," but investors are eagerly awaiting Tesla's next earnings update - scheduled for next month - for any indication of a shift in the company's position.
Musk has criticized the massive computing power required to process bitcoin transactions and appeared to lament a breakup with bitcoin in early June.
Other cryptocurrencies remained stable following weekend gains, with ether trading at $2,491 and former Musk darling dogecoin trading at about 32 US cents on cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
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