Elon Musk and His Latest Tweets About Bitcoin

Bitcoin fell 4% on Friday after Elon Musk posted a few tweets that appeared to lament a breakup with the cryptocurrency. His company’s big position in bitcoin as well as Musk’s large personal following often set cryptocurrency markets on edge whenever Musk tweets something about cryptocurrencies. The price of major cryptocurrency fell after he posted “#Bitcoin”, a broken heart emoji and a picture of a couple discussing a breakup.

It was not only how tweet about bitcoin that day, as he followed that up by posting a breakup comic setup. He also replied “nice” to an illustration of a rival cryptocurrency dogecoin posted by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. It was unclear what, if anything, any of his latest tweets meant.

Elon Musk previously said Tesla would not sell its bitcoin. Nonetheless, his tweets were enough to unsettle markets still fragile following May’s crash.

Friday’s decline pushed the world’s largest cryptocurrency below its 20-day moving average to $37,710. It took some of the edge off its week-to-date gains, but it still climbed nearly 6% percent to put it on track for its best week in about a month.

Elon Musk, bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies

Elon Musk has been a main supporter of cryptocurrencies for a long time. But he turned critical of bitcoin since suspending Tesla plans to take it in payment for cars. He changed his mind regarding that cryptocurrency due to the impact of bitcoin mining on the environment.

Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies are still recovering from a crash that happened in May. Last month, Tesla’s decision plus harsh Chinese regulatory rhetoric, led to a plunge in the cryptocurrency sector.

The company’s stock fell by a third since it announced a $1.5 billion bitcoin purchase in February. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is more than 40% below April’s record peak of $64,895.22.

Ether, which is the second-biggest cryptocurrency, wasn’t spared by sellers either, as it dropped around 4% on Friday. Its price declined to $2,750. Nonetheless,  it still looks on course for a second consecutive weekly gain of greater than 10%.

Dogecoin is the most sensitive cryptocurrency to Elon Musk’s tweets as he helped dogecoin to reach formidable results. Thanks to Musk, it transformed from a joke at the bottom of the value heap to a multi-billion dollar market valuation. On Friday, dogecoin declined slightly before it steadied just under $0.40 on Friday. Dogecoin is up about 40% since Sunday.