Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu Agency through Getty Images
Billionaire Elon Musk once again fell to second place on the Bloomberg index of the richest people in the world, after his net worth fell $ 15 billion on Monday.
His wealth fell to $ 183 billion, allowing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to regain first place after Tesla’s shares fell 9% on Monday – its biggest one-day drop since the end of September. The drop appeared to be fueled in part by Musk tweeted over the weekend that bitcoin and Ethereum prices looked high. Bitcoin fell 11% on Tuesday to $ 48,016, in a sign of caution about its rapid rise, while Ethereum fell 15% to $ 1,521.
Electric vehicle maker’s stock was further undermined by its decision to suspend orders for a cheaper version of its Model Y SUV. Tesla removed the car from its online configurator just a month after launch. It is not clear whether the decision is permanent.
Musk was pushed into second place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the second time this month, but he and Bezos have been switching places since January due to the fluctuation in Tesla’s share price. Bloomberg now estimates Bezos’ wealth at $ 186 billion, with Musk at $ 3 billion.
Bezos held the top spot for three consecutive years until January, when Musk took over after a nearly 800% rise in Tesla’s stock value.
On Monday, gold bull and cynical bitcoin Peter Schiff tweeted: “Two weeks after @elonmusk announced it spent $ 1.5 billion in shareholder money buying Bitcoin, #Tesla the stock entered a bear market, plummeting 20% since its historical record set on January 25, and 16% since the announcement of the #Bitcoin purchase. It is not an example that other CEOs are likely to follow! “
@ PeterSchiff / Twitter
But, according to crypto expert Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer for Bitfinex crypto exchange, price fluctuations can be expected in a nascent space. The sharp drop in the price of bitcoin could galvanize many critics of the cryptocurrency, including those who recently rejected it as a secondary economic spectacle, he said.
“These criticisms miss the mark and the deep impact they are beginning to have,” he added. “For many of the battle-tested exchanges that have resisted market fluctuations, volatility is not new and is expected in such a young market.”