Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is a force to be reckoned with in the cryptocurrency industry. Elon Musk’s funny tweets about cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin and Dogecoin, cause values to rise or fall.
Musk’s tweets, which have over 60 million followers on Twitter, have a tremendous impact on the cryptocurrency market. However, it goes against the underlying premise of a decentralized industry, which is always resistant to the influence of a single person.
Why Does Elon Musk Have Influence Over Cryptocurrency Market?
The cryptocurrency market is still in its infancy. Much of the price movement is based on speculation, some of which comes from influential figures such as American billionaire Elon Musk. The embryonic crypto market is known for its volatility, but as digital assets become more widespread, the power of influencers looks to be growing.
As you must know, Elon Musk is the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, two of the most influential companies globally, and as a successful person, people listen to him. People make their trading decisions based on his tweets. Read more about trading cryptocurrency if you want to begin your trading journey and reap profits.
Tesla and Cryptocurrency
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated on Twitter in March 2024 that the company will accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for electric vehicles, making it the most popular and prominent cryptocurrency. At the time, Bitcoin payments were only available in the United States.
However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the company was looking for ways to expand the payment method to other nations. Musk announced in May, less than two months after making this declaration, that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Musk attributed the company’s decision to stop taking cryptocurrencies to climate change.
Environmentalists have labeled bitcoin mining as dangerous since it consumes an excessive amount of power and electricity. There have been questions about whether the electricity was generated using renewable or fossil resources. As a result of these concerns, Musk has announced that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin.
Musk recently stated at the B-Word cryptocurrency conference that Tesla would “likely” restore Bitcoin adoption. In June, he declared via a tweet that if Bitcoin mining became more environmentally friendly, Tesla would resume accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment method. Musk tweeted, “Tesla will restart permitting Bitcoin transactions when there is confirmation of fair (50 percent ) renewable energy usage by miners with a favorable future trend.”
Elon Musk and his Affair with Dogecoin
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency founded as a joke by software programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who wanted to mock the rampant cryptocurrency speculation of the time. Despite its sarcastic nature, some people think it’s a good investment. As its emblem and moniker, Dogecoin uses the Shiba Inu dog from the “Doge” meme. It was first released on December 6, 2013, and soon grew its own online community, eventually reaching a market capitalization of more than $85 billion on May 5, 2024.
With a market cap of about $8 billion, Dogecoin is still the world’s 13th most valuable cryptocurrency. Its value has risen from less than $0.01 at the beginning of the year to slightly over $0.08.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s regular tweets and memes, as well as tangible evidence of his support for the sector by investing $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies earlier this year, can be credited with much of its growing appeal. Elon Musk has stated that he will buy out major Dogecoin holders to help the famed virtual currency become the “currency of the internet.”
Elon Musk routinely utilizes his Twitter platform to communicate his thoughts on Dogecoin, prompting others to accuse him of market manipulation because the price of Dogecoin frequently undergoes price swings following Elon Musk’s Dogecoin-related tweets. Despite this, he isn’t legally breaking any laws because cryptocurrencies aren’t regulated like stocks.
Musk’s first Dogecoin-related tweet, according to CNN Business, was on December 20, 2024. ‘One Word: Doge,’ Musk wrote on Twitter. The value of Dogecoin increased by 20% shortly after.
In early February 2024, Musk followed up with a series of Dogecoin-related tweets, including ‘Dogecoin is the people’s crypto’ and ‘no highs, no lows, only Doge.’ Dogecoin’s value increased by nearly 40% as a result of these tweets.
According to CNN, the price of Dogecoin increased by more than 100 percent on April 15, 2024, after Musk tweeted an image of Joan Miró’s painting ‘Dog Barking at the Moon’ with the phrase ‘Doge Barking at the Moon.’ According to CNBC, the price of Dogecoin increased by 11% on May 20, 2024, after Musk tweeted a Doge-related meme.
When many people saw that Elon Musk, the Dogefather, had changed his profile picture on Twitter in July 2024 to one of him wearing sunglasses with a Shiba Inu puppy in the mirror, the Doge community was ecstatic.
Given its recent rise to prominence and lack of a well-established structure compared to bitcoin, Dogecoin still has a long way to go in becoming a mainstream form of payment. However, given Elon Musk’s strong support for it, it shouldn’t be long before we see the fruits of his labor bear fruit.
Conclusion
Musk’s support for financial innovation has always been evident in his business decisions; perhaps the billion-dollar investment is just another way for him to demonstrate how much. Apart from this, hinting at the possibility of accepting Bitcoins as a viable payment method for his company’s products has sparked joy in the sector.
Elon Musk, famed for catapulting innovative ideas in both transportation and space tourism, is on the verge of genuinely betting on cryptocurrencies as a legitimate, sustainable financial answer, despite his meme-fuelled tweets and off-handed statements.
He cites two reasons for this. He considers cryptocurrencies a trustworthy medium of exchange that can compete with the dollar in ordinary economic transactions and believes them to be a steady store of value for investors.
