Elon Musk’s crypto influence cannot be overstated. Formerly the world’s richest man, Musk’s tweets habitually make waves throughout the cryptocurrency market. His whimsical musings have caused spectacular pumps and dumps in everything from meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) up to Bitcoin (BTC) itself.
Some internet sleuths speculate that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO might even be moonlighting as Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s mysterious founder. This would add yet another layer to Elon’s impressive resume, which includes co-chairing at OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT.
Despite being worshipped as something less than a deity within the blockchain industry, the eccentric billionaire has shown mixed views toward digital currency.
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Is Elon Musk a force of growth or destruction in the crypto market?
Is Elon Musk Satoshi Nakamoto?
According to a SpaceX intern, Satoshi Nakamoto is none other than Elon Musk. After analyzing a slew of coincidental similarities between Musk and Nakamoto’s behavior, Sahil Gupta claims to have uncovered one of the big secrets of the 21st century.
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Similar word choices, like ‘order of magnitude’ and ‘bloody,’ alongside proficiency in the C++ programming language and frequent use of a ’double-space after a period’ have convinced Gupta that Musk and Nakamoto are the same person.
Gupta admits that there is no hard evidence to support his claim. To further extinguish the fire, Elon Musk has flatly denied any involvement in the creation of Bitcoin.
Elon Musk and the Cryptocurrency Industry
While he’s (probably) not Satoshi Nakamoto, Elon Musk has always kept himself up to date on cryptocurrency and the growth of the blockchain industry. Amongst hundreds of digital assets in the crypto market, none have attracted Musk’s attention more than Bitcoin and the world’s favorite meme coin, DOGE.
Elon Musk and Bitcoin (BTC)
Elon Musk publicly mentioned Bitcoin in 2014 at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit. When asked for his opinion on the digital currency, Musk said that Bitcoin was “probably a good thing” but that BTC would be “primarily a means of doing illegal transactions.”
Five years passed, and the crypto market continued to explode and crash with volatility that made traditional investors sweat. News outlets pronounced that ‘Bitcoin is Dead’ with impunity, comparing it to Tulip mania and pyramid schemes.
In 2019, Elon came out in support of Bitcoin, saying that the cryptocurrency’s structure was ‘quite brilliant’ on a podcast hosted by Ark Invest. The Tesla co-founder also mentioned Ethereum (ETH) had “some merit,” although he confirmed that Tesla wouldn’t be committing any resources to the crypto space.
This all changed in early 2021 when Elon Musk changed his Twitter bio to include one simple word: #Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency surged by over 20% in response, raising questions about Musk’s ability to manipulate the crypto market.
His work wasn’t finished. Just a few weeks later, Tesla announced that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and planned to accept BTC as payment in exchange for Tesla products. BTC exploded further, continuing it’s meteoric Elon-fuelled run.
Unfortunately for Bitcoin bulls, it couldn’t last forever. Concerns over Bitcoin’s energy consumption drove Musk to announce that Tesla would no longer accept BTC payments. The news broke on May 12th, 2021, causing the price of BTC to plummet roughly 40% in a few short weeks.
Elon Musk and Dogecoin (DOGE)
While Elon Musk’s relationship with Bitcoin has always been rocky, his devotion to Dogecoin has never been in doubt. Elon believes that DOGE is ‘the people’s coin.’ He came to this conclusion after speaking with production line workers at Tesla and SpaceX who owned DOGE.
Musk first tweeted about the original meme coin in 2019, saying that DOGE was his favorite cryptocurrency. Even in the depths of the crypto winter, DOGE almost doubled in value within three days.
Elon has continued championing Dogecoin for years, posting a litany of memes using the iconic Shiba Inu’s face. In 2021, Musk admitted that he had collaborated with the developers since 2019 to improve the network. Every time Elon mentions DOGE, the digital asset enjoys a significant pump. However, the effect has diminished over time.
The one shadow that Musk has cast over DOGE came in February 2021. DOGE’s price fell by as much as 20% after Elon expressed concern that the supply was over-concentrated, with 62% of all tokens controlled by the top 50 wallets.
Perhaps the most euphoric moment in the history of the Musk-Dogecoin relationship sent DOGE into the stratosphere. On April 1st, 2021, Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX would put a literal Dogecoin on the moon. Over the following month, DOGE exploded from $0.06 to its all-time high of $0.73.
Today, DOGE is an accepted method of payment for Official Tesla merchandise.
Elon Musk and Ethereum (ETH)
While Elon Musk has been vocal in his support of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, he’s been comparatively restrained when discussing Ethereum. Elon has confirmed that he holds Ether and has no intention of selling.
Despite being a fan of Ethereum, Musk has no interest in NFTs.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover
In April 2022, crypto Twitter users rejoiced to learn that Elon Musk planned to acquire the Social Media platform. Musk proposed radical changes for the network, including promoting free speech and making all Twitter’s algorithms open-source. The acquisition cost of the platform totaled $44B and was completed in October 2022.
It’s long been speculated that Elon Musk might somehow find a way to incorporate cryptocurrency into the platform. This seemed to be confirmed on the 4th of April 2023, when the social media network’s iconic blue bird logo was replaced with DOGE.
The DOGE price surged after the update, jumping over 10% in a few hours. The price retraced back to previous levels after the logo was replaced by the original Twitter logo a few days later.
On the Flipside
- Elon’s ability to move the entire crypto market with a handful of tweets arguably shows a lack of maturity within the cryptocurrency industry. Even Bitcoin, a digital asset worth over $500B in terms of market cap, can be easily manipulated by the whims of one man, making it unreliable as a currency of exchange.
- Due to his presence in the cryptocurrency industry and immense wealth, hackers and scams will often impersonate Elon Musk. If you ever receive messages from someone claiming to be Elon, don’t give them any personal information like your seed phrase.
Why You Should Care
Elon Musk has an enormous influence on the crypto market and the trading habits of its participants. His behavior is proven to cause spikes and drops in crypto prices, leading many to question whether Elon is deliberately manipulating the market.
FAQs
According to a tweet Elon Musk published in March 2022, he owns Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin and has no intention to sell.
Elon Musk has confirmed that he doesn’t own any Shiba Inu (SHIB) coins. According to Musk, his only cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.
There is no official ELON coin that has any involvement with Elon Musk. While you might find plenty of coins called ELON on a decentralized exchange, these are generally nothing more than meme coins and scams.
According to Elon Musk, his favorite cryptocurrency is Dogecoin, the people’s crypto.
