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 proved to be a bitcoin fan on Friday – and now he’s doubling down.
Tesla’s chief billionaire last week added the hashtag #bitcoin to his Twitter bio, in a move that helped to briefly raise the price of cryptocurrency by up to 20%.
In a discussion on the popular Clubhouse audio app on Sunday night, Musk confirmed that he was a supporter of bitcoin.
“I have to watch what I say here because some of these things can really move the market,” said Musk. “A lot of my friends tried to convince me to get involved with bitcoin for a long time.”
Musk said he once ate a slice of “bitcoin cake” given to him by a friend in 2013, and that he “clearly … should have bought at least a little bitcoin eight years ago – talk about being late for the party.”
“Right now, I think bitcoin is a good thing and I am an advocate for bitcoin,” said Musk.
“I think bitcoin is really about to get widespread acceptance by mainstream finance people.”
Musk added that he has no “strong opinion” on other virtual currencies. He tweeted about meme-based cryptocurrency in the past and in 2019 indicated that it was his “favorite cryptocurrency”.
Last week, dogecoin skyrocketed by up to 800% within 24 hours after a Musk tweet was interpreted by Reddit users to mean he was supporting the token.
“I occasionally make jokes about dogecoin, but in reality they are meant to be just jokes,” said Musk on Sunday. “Dogecoin was made as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies.”
“But fate loves irony,” he added, jokingly. “The most fun and the most ironic result would be for dogecoin to become Earth’s currency in the future.”
The cryptocurrency markets were not affected by Musk’s comments, with bitcoin and dogecoin falling slightly after he spoke. Dogecoin was still up 40% in the past 24 hours, after a sharp drop over the weekend.
Bitcoin’s price has more than quadrupled over the past year. It then hit a new historical record of almost $ 42,000 in early 2021. Optimistic investors say the digital currency has gained momentum with increased institutional interest and the perception that it is a gold-like safe-haven asset.