Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire whose on-off relationship with bitcoin and crypto has kept investors on their toes, has again triggered a crypto price surge—helping to push the combined crypto market back over $1 trillion (despite fears of another terra luna-style meltdown).
The bitcoin price has this week soared over $20,000 per bitcoin, up almost 10% over the last week, while the ethereum price has added 20% after a huge $2 trillion crypto price crash this year that some think could herald a $28 trillion boom.
Now, after Musk floated plans to integrate the meme-based bitcoin rival dogecoin into Twitter
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a fan of the “joke” bitcoin rival dogecoin and has helped its price surge … [+]
This week, Musk posted a video showing him walking into the Twitter office carrying a sink and sparking speculation over why and whether it relates to reports he could look to lay off some 75% of Twitter’s workforce (or if he’s just recreating a meme).
Musk has also changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit.” Earlier this week, Musk told bankers backing his bid for the company that he expects it to close by Friday, it was reported by Bloomberg.
In September, messages made public in the discovery process of Musk’s court battle with Twitter showed Musk told his brother Kimbal he wanted to build a blockchain-based, social media platform that could use dogecoin to verify users.
“This could be massive,” Musk texted his younger brother in April, it was first reported by Insider.
“I have an idea for a blockchain social media system that does both payments and short text messages/links like Twitter. You have to pay a tiny amount to register your message on the chain, which will cut out the vast majority of spam and bots. There is no throat to choke, so free speech is guaranteed.”
Kimbal later replied: “I’d love to help think through the structure of the doge social media idea. Let me know how I can help.”
Musk’s interest in dogecoin, beginning around 2019, took off in 2021 amid the huge bitcoin and crypto price boom, with Musk encouraging the “joke” bitcoin rival to slash fees and speed up transactions to compete as a payments system.
In May, Musk announced his rocket company SpaceX would follow Tesla in accepting dogecoin for merchandise. Tesla began accepting dogecoin for merchandise purchases in January.
However, the dogecoin price remains down by around 90% from its all-time high set in May last year at the height of Musk-dogecoin mania. Market analysts fear the latest dogecoin price pump would quickly turn into a “dump.”
“The latest [dogecoin price] rise looks more like a ‘buy the rumor’ pattern, and it can’t be ruled out that the pump will soon turn into a dump,” warned Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, in an emailed note.
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The dogecoin price has surged this week but remains heavily down on its all-time highs, along with … [+]
Meanwhile, the wider crypto market, including the price of bitcoin and ethereum, has rebounded this week as traders begin to see economic data that could suggest the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks ease off on their recent, rapid series of interest rate hikes.
Bitcoin and crypto prices have held up in recent weeks despite a stock market slide, exacerbated by a technology company sell-off—something cheered by those in the crypto industry.
“History shows bitcoin’s
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“Right now, we’re seeing bitcoin’s volatility beginning to slow as its range shrinks weekly, like previous bear markets. Over the past several weeks, bitcoin has held up while equity markets have been making new lows, this could be indicative of seller exhaustion and the long-term holder base growing confidence in this zone.”
