Elon Musk is the second richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of over $155bn. He has founded some of the most successful tech companies in the world from PayPal to Tesla, and his word carries a lot of weight in tech circles, but his influence on the crypto market is dramatic. A few words of support from Musk can drive the hype surrounding a cryptocurrency supersonic and send prices soaring, but with his word carrying such great potential profits, investors need to be careful that the words attributed to him are true.
Musk and Bitcoin
In the last quarter of 2020, Tesla invested a staggering $1.5bn in Bitcoin, buying an estimated 46,000 coins at a price of around $32,610, in an event that caused the price of Bitcoin to soar dramatically. And when Tesla announced in March 2021 that the company would accept Bitcoin as payment it sent the currency growth into overdrive as investors believed that the cryptocurrency was finally hitting the mainstream. At one point, the on-paper growth of Tesla’s Bitcoin investment was worth more than the company makes in selling electric cars.
However, after learning of the impact Bitcoin mining had on the environment, Musk had a change of heart and announced in May of that year that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment until the currency reduced its environmental footprint, causing a 15 per cent collapse in the value of the currency almost overnight. And when he later tweeted about breaking up with Bitcoin using the currency fell again.
#Bitcoin ???? pic.twitter.com/lNnEfMdtJf
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2021
Musk and Dogecoin
Musk first mentioned Dogecoin on Twitter after a poll put his as the favourite person to become the CEO of the newly launched cryptomeme, but it was his “Doge” tweet in December 2020 that caused the currency to start its rapid rise from $0.0028 to $0.46 over the course of a few months. He later went on to describe himself as the “Dogefather” and joked about sending Doge “to the moon”.
One word: Doge
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2020
Musk’s influence on other cryptocurrencies
It is of little surprise that the words of one of the richest people in the world with over a billion dollars believed to be invested in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin continue to have a dramatic impact on the cryptocurrency markets. However, his involvement in the crypto-world has also led to a variety of impersonators using his name and likeness in order to trick investors into believing in their “smart investment system” or that their “crypto” will be the next Bitcoin or Dogecoin – and they have scammed people out of millions.
Recently, videos have appeared on Reddit and elsewhere that appeared to show Musk introducing a new trading platform called Quantum AI, but the video is a fake, with at least one Quantum AI review noting the problems with the video and other promotional materials faking Musk’s words and using a variety of video actors from Fiverr.
Musk is a billionaire and serial entrepreneur, and it is certainly believable that he may have investments in quantum technologies in the future. However, investors should be wary of any information they read that comes from unverified sources no matter if they appear that they may have been recorded from reputable source. If you cannot find the story or video on that original source then it could well be faked, and with recent developments in “deepfake” technology even if you see a video that appears to show a celebrity endorsing something, unless they also talk about that product or service on their own verified social channels then the content should be viewed with significant scepticism.
