Although the first thing that many will think about when they hear Elon Musk’s name be mentioned is Tesla and Space X, there are a number of people who will instantly think of him being associated with something else.
Musk has been a rather focal figure when it comes down to being involved with the world of cryptocurrency, with the world’s second-richest man (a worth estimated to be around $151 billion) having continued to involve himself in the virtual currency scene.
Musk makes bitcoin landscape incredibly volatile
Indeed, many investors and newbies who may have already checked out things such as an eToro review UK users can take advantage of will have already highlighted Musk as one individual, if not the main individual, that has made the bitcoin landscape as volatile as it is today and continues to be.
And, there is evidence that he appears to have a huge influence on how well – or poorly – cryptocurrencies perform as comments and tweets that he has made in the past have all had an impact on the virtual currency scene, in both a positive and negative way.
Of course, Musk can not be attributed any of the blame for the latest news that China has seemingly decided to ban cryptocurrency because it is “not real” and has seen the price of bitcoin fall an incredible amount.
However, the Tesla and Space X CEO has been able to influence the price of certain cryptocurrencies by things that he has done; specifically Dogecoin.
Musk’s actions continue to play a role
Earlier in 2021, Musk and Tesla decided to invest a total of $1.5 billion into Dogecoin amid plans that they were about to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method for those who were looking to purchase one of the vehicles that they produced and sold.
After investing in it, Musk produced a tweet that he posted to Twitter that showed a picture of Doge – the Japanese Shiba Inu that has been used as part of a meme in the past – on the moon, planting a flag that had the coin’s logo and captioned it with: “literally”.
That single tweet meant that the value of Dogecoin would increase by 20% on the same day. However, Musk has shown he can make the coin lose as much value in the same period of time by saying something that sends confidence in the digital currency to an all-time low level.
Despite having shown clear intent in allowing digital currency to be used as a payment method to purchase a Tesla vehicle, Musk subsequently backed out on those plans amid concerns that cryptocurrency were not environmentally friendly and used too much energy that could be seen as harmful to the planet.
Following the decision, the price of bitcoin instantly declined by 15% as investors became scared about what could happen in the future, although more cause for concern was about to happen because of things that Musk had decided to do; thus further highlighting his ability to make the bitcoin landscape as volatile as possible.
After Tesla’s announcement that they would not be allowing cryptocurrency to be used as a payment method, one user decided to suggest that the company and Musk would be looking to sell the digital currency that they had invested in. The user mentioned Musk in the tweet, which he saw and decided to simply reply with “indeed”, thus inferring that they would look to go ahead and offload it.
That one-worded tweet would have made the bitcoin landscape even more volatile, as it sent the price of bitcoin to its lowest level since February. However, Musk has continued to confuse, infuriate and just simply annoy those investing in bitcoin as he revealed that Tesla had not sold any bitcoin, which saw its price stop to drop and halt at around the $45,000-mark.
It is not just his involvement in Tesla, though, that continues to have a direct impact on the cryptocurrency landscape, as he has proven he can influence it with Space X as he has seen Dogecoin increase by 30% after tweeting that he was working with the digital currency’s developers to make it more efficient.
However, his most recent stunt will have sent shockwaves through the bitcoin landscape as he highlighted just how volatile it truly can be. After an appearance on Saturday Night Live, he revealed that Dogecoin was a “hustle”.
This comment immediately saw the digital currency lose some of its value within a few hours, whilst a 24-hour period saw it decrease by 30% and leave it significantly well below the $0.74 all-time high it had once been.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Elon Musk continues to make the bitcoin landscape as volatile as it is by continuing to make conflicting claims and decisions regarding cryptocurrencies. Of course, being the second-richest person in the world will carry some sort of influence when it comes down to finance, but his power over the volatility of digital currency appears to be greater than anybody elses.
