Musk denies market manipulation, massive Bitcoin selloff, Tesla to resume transactions with condition: 50% clean energy mining.
After a series of flip-flopping attitudes from Elon Musk, the cryptocurrency market no longer relies on "Musk's investment advice" for any positive news. Investors are now hoping that he refrains from making any further comments on the matter. However, he once again pledged: "If green energy mining reaches 50%, Tesla will resume Bitcoin payments." As a result, the price of Bitcoin briefly approached $40,000.
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Musk Should Be Investigated by SEC
Magda Wierzycka, CEO of asset management firm Sygnia and billionaire in South Africa, recently stated in an interview:
The recent volatility in Bitcoin that we have seen is an unexpected result of Musk manipulating the market. If this happened in a listed company, he would be investigated by the SEC. His deliberate tweets to boost Bitcoin, including the $1.5 billion Tesla purchase tweet, selling most of it at the peak, and actions like halting Bitcoin payments all constitute market manipulation.
She emphasized, "What we are seeing is a very powerful and influential individual manipulating the price of Bitcoin."
In response to this report, Musk harshly denied the claim of selling off Bitcoin.
Denial of Manipulating the Bitcoin Market
Musk replied:
This is an inaccurate statement. Tesla only sold about 10% of its holdings to confirm that Bitcoin could be easily liquidated without causing market fluctuations. When there is confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with a positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.
This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market.
When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2021
According to a previous report from the investor call, Tesla sold about 10% of its Bitcoin holdings in the first quarter, with the remaining digital assets valued at $1.331 billion as of March 31. CFO Zach Kirkhorn also expressed amazement at the liquidity of the Bitcoin market.
Although there were "alleged" indications in mid-May that Tesla might sell off the remaining Bitcoin, Musk promptly clarified the next day that no sales had occurred. Overall, the claim made by Magda Wierzycka in the interview about a significant sale of holdings being a big part of his exposure is not factual.
Musk brought rare good news to the market recently, but comments below his tweets still overwhelmingly urge Musk never to make any more comments related to cryptocurrency.