Leer en Español
The price of Bitcoin soars again after electric car czar Elon Musk referred to the possibility of accepting it again as a means of payment at Tesla, responding to a tweet from the Cointelegraph media.
Musk’s tweet stemmed from Magda Wierzycka, CEO of digital security company Sygnia, claiming that Tesla’s owner was using his influence to manipulate the price of Bitcoin at will:
“What we have seen with Bitcoin is price manipulation by a very powerful and influential individual,” Wirzycka asserted, adding that “if this will happen to a [publicly traded] listed company, he [Musk] would be investigated and severely sanctioned by the SEC [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission].”
Finally, Wirzycka denounced Tesla, as it “sold a large portion of its exposure at [Bitcoin’s] peak.”
Musk came to Tesla’s defense, saying that Wirzycka’s claims are inaccurate: “Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC [Bitcoin] could be liquidated easily without moving market.”
The tycoon also clarified that “when there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.”
Following Elon Musk’s comments the price of Bitcoin jumped 12.5 % in one day and stood at almost 39,400 during the morning of last Monday, June 14.
In late March, Tesla began accepting Bitcoin transactions for the purchase of its electric vehicles. However, the decision was questioned, as being a renewable energy company, accepting a cryptocurrency that relies heavily on the use of fossil fuels for its emission was contradictory.
In May, the price of Bitcoin suffered a precipitous drop when Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin. During that same week it continued to fall, as it coincided with the inflation announcement by the Federal Reserve (FED), which altered investors’ expectations, and many began to withdraw their funds invested in Bitcoin, which fell below 30,000.
Bitcoin increases following Paul Tudor Jones’ announcement
The Bitcoin price was also positively affected following investor and trader Paul Tudor Jones‘ recommendation to invest in this crypto. Jones gave that advice because, in his view, the FED is ignoring the rising inflation currently being experienced by the U.S. economy.
“If they say, ‘we’re on track, things are good,’ then I would look at inflation trading. I’d probably buy commodities, I’d buy crypto, I’d buy gold,” Jones said, referring to the Fed’s monetary policy.
Jones also warned that in the event of an accelerated interest rate hike, the FED could also inadvertently cause a run on the capital market and choke with higher interest rates the thousands of companies that today have high debt and have subsisted through bond issuance.
Next Wednesday, the Fed’s Open Market Committee is scheduled to hold a meeting where it will announce the next steps to be taken regarding monetary policy in the United States. Many investors are waiting for this announcement to decide where to put their money.
