At the beginning of February, Elon Musk and Tesla announced before the regulatory commission of the American stock market the purchase of Bitcoins worth 1,500 million dollars and the intention to start accepting the payment of vehicles with this cryptocurrency. "I think Bitcoin is a good thing and I fully support it," Musk said shortly after in an interview.
Read more: Tesla Announces Car Sales In Bitcoin
The announcement catapulted Bitcoin's price from $30,000 to $57,000 in just a few days. For many investors it was the definitive proof that the traditional market was beginning to see this currency as a stable investment vehicle. Risky, yes, but in line with other assets such as stocks or bonds.
A week ago, Elon Musk decided to back down . In a statement, he explained that Tesla had finally ruled out accepting bitcoins given the high environmental cost of "mining" Bitcoin. Several studies suggest that the infrastructure that allows its operation consumes as much energy as Sweden or Argentina.
This second announcement had, unsurprisingly, the opposite effect. In a few days the price of a Bitcoin has gone from about $57,000 to touch the $30,000 level again, although in the last hours it has recovered part of the lost ground.
Read also: Bitcoin Price Fell 10% After Elon Musk's tweet
The crash has infuriated many investors, and this time, they have someone to blame. Musk, revered online for his unorthodox behavior, has gone from being a hero in the cryptocurrency community to being the villain.
DIAMOND HANDS
Not even Musk's attempts to provide a bit of context for his actions seem to be drawing the sympathy of many of those who until recently were his most ardent fans.
After the collapse of the value of Bitcoin this past week (which has also dragged other currencies such as Ripple, Ethereum or Dogecoin) , Musk published a tweet with several emojis to explain that Tesla has what is known as "diamond hands", it is In other words, it does not plan to sell its bitcoins even if the price of a security falls precipitously (although Tesla will no longer accept payments in this currency, it still owns a significant number of coins).
For David Portnoy, founder of the media group Barstool Sports and investor in bitcoin, it is an announcement that is somewhat late. "Fuck him," was his terse reply to Musk's tweet.
The frustration of many is palpable in the comments of the social network or the Reddit forums dedicated to Bitcoin. Some accuse Musk of manipulating the price of these currencies to get rich , others lament that they lost their savings by trusting his words, and there are those who are calling for a boycott of Tesla and not buying his vehicles in response.
"The environmental excuse is garbage. Are we really going to believe that until now it had not occurred to him?" commented a Twitter user.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
While volatility is not new to these types of investments, and many currencies still have a very high value when compared to just a few months ago, Musk's change of mind has had a demoralizing effect on the community.
Read also: Top 10 Bitcoin Holders
Bitcoin, after all, is not the only victim. Behind the inexplicable growth of Dogecoin, a currency that was born as a parody of Bitcoin, is also the shadow of Musk.
Half jokingly, half seriously, Musk has spent several months promoting this coin, which has as a pet a Shiba Inu dog who became famous as the protagonist of several memes years ago.
Since January, its value has gone from 0.0083 cents on the dollar to 0.73 dollars at the beginning of May . Now, after Musk's latest statements, it has plummeted almost 40%. It is a lot, but even with this fall it accumulates a revaluation of 6.245% (yes, you read that correctly) in the first five months of the year.
Read more: China Bans Cryptocurrency Trade
Ethereum, a blockchain that is designed to support digital contracts but whose value also fluctuates relative to traditional currencies, has suffered a similar fate. So far this year, it has added a 200% revaluation, partly due to the fashion of the NFTs , but in the last five days it has fallen almost 30% , although its downward behavior began long before Musk announced the change in strategy from Tesla.
Deep down, it matters little, the resentment towards Musk is so great that the community has even created a cryptocurrency to protest against what they consider to be market manipulation, the StopElon.
Right now it is trading at $0.00003, but who knows, it will turn some resentful people into billionaires in a few years.
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