Bitcoin, Ether see brief spike after Elon Musk says he isn't selling
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Bitcoin, which has fallen as much as 2.9 per cent before billionaire Elon Musk's tweet, briefly erased losses before retreating again.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Bitcoin, Ether and Dogecoin received a quick boost on Monday (March 14) after billionaire Elon Musk tweeted that he owns the digital tokens and is not planning to sell.
Bitcoin, which had fallen as much as 2.9 per cent before Mr Musk's tweet, briefly erased losses before retreating again. Ether was up as much as 2.3 per cent before giving up some gains. Dogecoin's 3.8 per cent gain was the biggest among cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinGecko.
Mr Musk, the world's richest person and the chief executive officer of Tesla, is no stranger to social media posts on cryptocurrencies. Last May, he said he has not sold "and won't" sell any Dogecoin, a token created in 2013 as a joke and for which he had become a proponent. In October, Mr Musk said he also owns Bitcoin and Ether.
This time round, he had posted a question on Twitter about the likely rate of inflation over the next few years.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, a prominent Bitcoin bull, replied: "Weaker currencies will collapse, and the flight of capital from cash, debt and value stocks to scarce property like #bitcoin will intensify."
Mr Musk retorted: "It is not entirely unpredictable that you would reach that conclusion."
MicroStrategy took a US$147 million (S$201 million) impairment charge for the fourth quarter as Bitcoin's price drop forced the company to write down its holding.
