Tesla chief Elon Musk’s tweets about cryptocurrencies over the past few months have had a significant impact on the crypto market. Currently, Bitcoin and Dogecoin are feeling the heat.

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The latest impact of Musk’s tweet was noticed on May 17 when Bitcoin's valuation plunged below $45,000, its biggest slide since February, after a tweet by the billionaire hinting that Tesla may sell its cryptocurrency holdings.

Here's a timeline of how Musk's tweets toyed with cryptocurrency valuations.

Bitcoin crashed from a high of $65,000 to below $45,000 levels when Elon Musk tweeted in response to an unverified Twitter account called @CryptoWhale, which said, "Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings. With the amount of hate @elonmusk is getting, I wouldn't blame him…"

Elon Musk in return had tweeted, "Indeed." He later tweeted that the investments of $1.5 billion made in Bitcoin by Tesla in February 2021 still holds good and it won’t be selling any coins. In a filing with the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said it bought Bitcoin for "more flexibility to further diversify and maximise returns on cash."

He added that Tesla would look at transacting as soon as "mining transitions to more sustainable energy. The option of investing in other cryptocurrencies that use <1 percent of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction is on."

On May 13, Musk announced that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin payments for its cars due to environmental concerns regarding Bitcoin mining.

Musk said, "Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment. Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy," he added.

Bitcoin plunged by around 10 percent soon after the tweet.

It all started in December 2020

With 43.7 million-plus followers on Twitter, he is known for shaking the crypto market with his tweets. It was in December of 2020 that Elon Musk had in a tweet asked about the possibility of converting "large transactions" of Tesla's balance sheet into Bitcoin.

That had sent the crypto industry into a tizzy. The price jumped 14 percent at the end of January 2021 after he tagged the cryptocurrency in his Twitter biography simply mentioning "#bitcoin".

Read more | Bitcoin collapse explained: Why has the cryptocurrency nosedived?

(Edited by : Shoma)

First Published:May 19, 2021 8:32 PM IST