The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may investigate Elon Musk about Tesla’s $ 1.5 billion purchase of bitcoins, some legal experts have warned, including a former SEC official. Given the timing of Tesla’s bitcoin purchase and Musk’s multiple tweets on the subject, some say the SEC will look into the matter.
Elon Musk may face an SEC investigation
Regulators can probe Tesla CEO Elon Musk about buying his company’s bitcoins, the Telegraph said on Tuesday. Last week, a SEC filing reveals that Tesla bought a substantial amount of bitcoin in January. “We invested a total of $ 1.50 billion in bitcoin … we hope to start accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future,” says the document.
Doug Davison, a partner at Linklaters and former head of the SEC’s oversight division, explained:
It wouldn’t be surprising – given the focus on CEO tweets, bitcoin prices and recent dramatic market movements – that the SEC would ask questions about the facts and circumstances here.
The CEO of Tesla and Spacex has been tweeting about bitcoin and also dogecoin. On January 29, he changed his Twitter profile to just say “#bitcoin” and then tweeted: “In retrospect, it was inevitable”. A few days later, he publicly endorsed bitcoin, stating that cryptocurrency “is a good thing” and that “bitcoin is really about to get wide acceptance by mainstream financial people”. Your Twitter profile no longer says #bitcoin.
Vitor Constâncio, who was vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB) until May 2018, explained in a tweet: “It was not disclosed when Tesla made this investment. In December, Musk said Tesla could buy bitcoin, and this was followed by many claims that he supported bitcoin. ”He added:
Bitcoin continued to grow and investment in Tesla appreciated. The SEC will look into this.
Some believe the SEC will find nothing of concern when investigating Musk. Among them is Thomas Gorman, a partner at the international law firm Dorsey Whitney and a former senior adviser to the SEC. He hopes the SEC team that examines Musk’s comments on social media will find that they reflect only his personal beliefs.
However, several people believe that Musk manipulated the BTC price to buy cheap coins. Among those who believe the SEC has cause for concern is Nouriel Roubini, a professor at NYU Stern School, also known as “Dr. Doom ”, who has always been a bitcoin skeptic. He called Musk’s action a form of market manipulation, insisting that the SEC should investigate the Tesla CEO.
Musk has had problems with the SEC before. In 2018, the securities regulator accused Tesla’s CEO of securities fraud related to a tweet about his electric car company. Musk and Tesla agreed to an agreement with the regulator and paid a $ 40 million fine. However, less than six months later, the SEC accused Musk for a different tweet that the agency claimed to violate the previous agreement.
Do you think the SEC will investigate Elon Musk about Tesla’s bitcoin purchase? Let us know in the comments section below.
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