Published: May 25th, 2021
Until recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been the darling of the crypto legion. His pronouncements have created sustained rallies that have pushed Bitcoin and Dogecoin to record highs. However, the fleeting romance has come to an abrupt halt. A cross-section of cryptocurrency enthusiasts has launched StopElon, a virtual currency meant to tame Elon's influence from manipulating crypto prices.
Elon Musk is many things to the cryptocurrency industry. One moment, he is the messiah breathing life to Bitcoin and Dogecoin and sending them to unimaginable record highs. The next moment, he talks about climate change, and more than $600 billion is wiped off from the coins' market capitalization as a result.
The renowned entrepreneur's actions have compelled a group of crypto enthusiasts, mostly his critics, to unveil a crypto coin whose price is not subject to Elon's pronouncements. StopElon, the coin created on the blockchain Binance Smart, is a statement protesting against Elon Musk and his grasp of the crypto sphere.
The group thinks that Musk's manipulation of crypto prices is artificial and might hurt the crypto environment in the long run. In the week that ended on Saturday, May 22, the price of Bitcoin dropped by more than 15% to stand at just over $30,000. The drop was prompted by the decision by Tesla to stop accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for its electric car units.
Adilin Beatrice, who writes for AnalyticsInsight.net, said Elon has been very vocal about crypto in retrospect, boosting Bitcoin's price substantially for the past several months. However, hi recent about-turn has inflicted harm on many crypto investors.
Beatrice said that crypto investors and enthusiasts are unhappy that Elon can bloat crypto prices at will. However, the group behind StopElon is determined to bring this trend to an end. Beatrice warns that stopping Elon would require a lot more effort than the enthusiasts envision. She added that Elon is a movement; he affects the volatility of coins by just a tweet.
Unfortunately, Elon is no stranger to the financial and digital domains, the two critical spheres shaping cryptocurrencies' growth. He has several years' experience working in the financial industry. He has become a tech entrepreneur who heads a major automotive company and a space exploration and aerospace products manufacturer.
Beatrice reiterates that Elon might prove a thorn among StopElon developers because most crypto enthusiasts love and hate him in equal measure. They think his surprise opinion on virtual currencies sways prices, mostly positively.
At the beginning of May, Musk tweeted that he would discuss Dogecoin on Saturday Night Live (SNL). Without doing anything else, the coin's price surged. However, it later tanked almost 30%.
However, StopElon proponents see the new virtual currency as more than just another coin that intends to make money and increase investors. Instead, it is a crusade that could shield crypto investors from Elon's manipulative comments.
The virtual currency's founders want crypto investors to afford a modicum of peace whether they are trading or HODLING. According to Matt Levine, the financial opinion columnist at Bloomberg, Musk has the sway that can move Bitcoin and Dogecoin in any direction he wants.
It is such kind of influence that StopElon is fighting. The statement on the coin's website reiterates that Elon is notorious for irresponsibly manipulating the price of some virtual currencies and destabilizing the crypto market in the process.
Aside from stopping Elon, the group's objectives appear rather grand and somewhat unattainable. They plan to eventually gain complete control of Tesla stock after they have attained adequate prominence. For a company with annual revenue of about $30 billion and some 960 million shares with a market capitalization of about $575 billion, it might not be a walk in the park attaining the objective.
Despite the justified blame on Elon regarding the Bitcoin price drop, some analysts believe the StopElon group is only looking for a sacrificial lamb. Naeem Aslam, the chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said that as much as the sell-off that came with the drop was because of Musk, the reality is that the loss of an upward movement for some coins was also to blame.
It is evident that Bitcoin prices went too far, breaching the unimaginable ceiling, Naeem said. As a result of the breach, a price correction was necessary, and that is what the market witnessed, even though they conveniently attributed it to Elon's comments, Naeem added.
Meanwhile, as the crusade rages shape, the virtual currency that is its face is spiking in value.
The coin, which only hit the exchanges recently, has witnessed a significant price surge, especially in the week that ended on Saturday, May 22. It closed at US$0.00009450, having jumped from US$0.0000019, which translates to an increase of about 4900% in 24 hours.
According to Poocoin, a website for cryptocurrency market capitalization data, the coin closed the week in question with a capitalization of about $30 million. Besides, the total supply increased with the creators availing 50% of the total coins available for sale.
At the same time, 40% of the coins have been burned at eliminated from circulation.
Meanwhile, StopElon is not the only crusade or virtual currency struggling to push Musk's influence to the curb. A group of enthusiasts recently launched $F***ELON. Since its unveiling, the coin has surged in price, hitting almost $2 a coin with a market capitalization of just under $150,000.
The goal of the $F***ELON team, like their StopElon counterparts, is lofty, almost a mirage. Aside from curtailing the influence Elon has over the price of Bitcoin, they hope to push the price of their coin to surpass that of Tesla stock (currently approx. $600).
Whether these crusades live to achieve their dreams remains to be seen. However, one thing is clear, an increasing number of crypto investors are getting tired of price manipulation, primarily where such action drives the price south.