Musk: "Tesla to Resume Bitcoin Payments" ... Bitcoin Recovers to $32,000

by Paek Jongmin

Published 22 Jul.2021 04:54(KST)

Updated 22 Jul.2021 07:22(KST)

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Cryptocurrency Rally Following Musk's Support
Ethereum Holdings Revealed
"I Also Lose When Bitcoin Price Drops"
Denies Cryptocurrency Price Manipulation Rumors

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] 'Dogefather' Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has driven the price of Bitcoin up to the $32,000 range. Ethereum surged by as much as 12% following Musk's disclosure of his holdings.

Musk: "Tesla to Resume Bitcoin Payments" ... Bitcoin Recovers to $32,000

On this day, Musk attended the Bitcoin forum 'B World' along with fervent Bitcoin supporter Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, and Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, to discuss the future of Bitcoin.

Contrary to expectations, Musk emphasized his faith in Bitcoin rather than Dogecoin.

Musk stated, "If it can be further confirmed that over 50% of Bitcoin mining uses renewable energy, Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin payments."

Musk had previously led the rise in Bitcoin prices by announcing Tesla's acceptance of Bitcoin payments, but later canceled the payment option and supported Dogecoin, which led to a decline in Bitcoin's value.

On this day, Musk revealed that he holds Ethereum. He stated that the only stock he owns is Tesla, and personally holds Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum.

He emphasized that he holds Bitcoin for the long term and mentioned that Tesla and SpaceX hold Bitcoin but do not possess other cryptocurrencies.

He said, "If Bitcoin's price goes down, I lose money too. I can raise the (Bitcoin) price, but I do not do that." This statement is interpreted as a response to criticism that Musk manipulates cryptocurrency prices through social networks (SNS).

Musk asserted, "I do not engage in raising the price to sell. I want to see Bitcoin succeed."

Following Musk's remarks, Bitcoin's price rose intraday to $32,700. Bitcoin had fallen to $29,300 the day before but quickly recovered to above $30,000 with Musk's support. As of 3:40 PM, Bitcoin was trading at $31,714, up 6.3%.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, briefly recovered to the $2,000 range following Musk's disclosure and is currently trading around $1,950.