Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, December 1, 2020.
Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Elon Musk came out on Friday as a believer in bitcoin, and now it’s doubling down.
Last week, the billionaire head of Tesla added the hashtag #bitcoin to his Twitter biography, in a move that helped briefly raise the price of the cryptocurrency by up to 20%.
In a discussion about the popular Clubhouse audio app on Sunday afternoon, Musk confirmed that he was a supporter of Bitcoin.
“I have to look at what I’m saying here because some of these things can move the market,” Musk said. “Many of my friends have tried to convince me to get involved in bitcoin for a long time.”
Musk said he once ate a slice of “bitcoin cake” that a friend gave him in 2013 and that “clearly … he should have bought bitcoins eight years ago: talk about being late to the party.”
“Right now I think bitcoin is a good thing and I’m a supporter of bitcoin,” Musk said.
“I think Bitcoin is about to gain widespread acceptance by people of conventional finance.”
Musk added that he does not have “a strong opinion” on other virtual currencies. In the past, he has tweeted about the meme-based dogecoin cryptocurrency and in 2019 indicated that it was his “favorite cryptocurrency”.
Last week, dogecoin shot up to 800% in 24 hours after Reddit users took a tweet from Musk to signify he was throwing his support behind the witness.
“I occasionally make jokes about dogecoin, but they’re really just meant to be jokes,” Musk said Sunday. “Dogecoin was made as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies.”
“But fate loves irony,” he added jokingly. “The most entertaining and most ironic result would be for dogecoin to become the currency of the Earth in the future.”
Musk’s comments prevented the cryptocurrency markets from going unaltered, with bitcoin and dogecoin falling slightly shortly after talking. Dogecoin still rose 40% in the last 24 hours, after a massive drop over the weekend.
Bitcoin quadrupled in price last year. It then reached a new all-time high of nearly $ 42,000 in early 2021. Bullish investors say the digital currency has gained momentum due to rising institutional interest and the perception that it is a safe haven asset similar to the ‘or.