Published: November 25th, 2020
Bitcoin has been on a roll these past two weeks. And just as the said monumental surge continues, Elon Musk has decided to throw a spanner into the works. The renowned entrepreneur has attacked the world's first crypto, likening it to ghost money.
Elon Musk has marked his rise to the world's second-richest person sending a stinging attack towards Bitcoin. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to social media to respond to a poll by Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams.
Ms. Williams had asked on Twitter if she should go long on Bitcoin. Of the 900,000 respondents who gave their views, 53% believed that long-term investment in the world's first cryptocurrency is a bad idea.
Among them was Elon, who answered by making cryptic references to a score from The Witcher, a Polish-American drama series airing on Netflix. Responding to Ms. Williams's poll, Elon advised the actress to toss a Bitcoin to her Witcher.
Among the naysayers is another Twitter user who replied with a meme of a wizard probably depicting Bitcoin as magic internet money. Musk responded to the user, lacing his response with emojis of money and a ghost and capped it with an excerpt from what appeared to be a satirical article on Onion published in 2017. The article had described Bitcoin as ghost money.
The piece Musk referred to was published when Bitcoin was nearing its first peak. The writer described one of the regular Bitcoin rallies where he said that the coin had managed to claw back its losses. According to experts quoted, the gains came because even ghost money suitable for buying illicit merchandise online like drugs could sometimes regain value, the article added.
The mixed reactions from the poll seemingly did not deter Ms. Williams. She announced later that she had invested in Bitcoin after all. Commenting on the same tweet, Ms. Williams thanked everyone who had participated in the poll signing off her comment with a meme depicting the animated movie character Shrek looking quizzical, probably her response to the overwhelming dose of sarcasm that graced the responses.
Bitcoin has come under a barrage of criticism in the past, mostly because of its runaway volatility and the semi-pseudo feature, making it the preferable payment method for criminals. Musk is by no means the only notable figure to attack the cryptocurrency.
In 2017, Joseph Stiglitz, an American public policy analyst, economists, and university don, dismissed it, even calling for its banning. Stiglitz said Bitcoin is only successful because it has the potential of circumvention and does not have an oversight body.
In his winded address back then, the World Bank's former chief economist said the cryptocurrency does not serve any socially useful purpose. It is a bubble bound to give many people numerous exciting times as it dashes towards its peak and then leaves a trail of disaster on its way down, Stiglitz added.
He said Bitcoin's only real-time value is the expectation of what it is going to be tomorrow.
Warren Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, is another notable personality to discredit the cryptocurrency. He went as far as referring to the world's first cryptocurrency as rat poison squared.
However, most people who have criticized Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies before have come around, and market analysts predict that even Buffett will find the coin attractive.
The Tesla CEO's rebuke of Bitcoin came about when he was leaping the list of the globe's richest men. The business magnate of multiple nationalities has just dashed past Bill Gates to become the second richest man on the planet.
Musk's fortune swelled to $148 billion on Tuesday, November 24, following an increase in the price of Tesla's shares. The American clean energy and electric car company's shares are now priced at $520 a pop after news reached the markets that it would join the S&P 500 Index.
Meanwhile, as the world's high and mighty were mudslinging Bitcoin, the premier crypto was busy making astronomic gains. It soared past $18,000 last week for the first time since it peaked at almost $20,000 in December 2017.
Bitcoin was exchanging by press time at $19,275.80 (Tuesday, November 24, 19:15 UTC). And, experts explaining the phenomenon disagree with the individuals that advised Ms. Williams against investing in crypto.
Mati Greenspan, the founder, and portfolio manager at Quantum Economics, said the rally is because the markets have matured. The price increase of 2017 was influenced by retail speculation while the current surge resulted from corporations and billionaires' investments, he added.
Antoni Trenchev, the managing partner at Nexo, concurred with Greenspan. He added that the corporations and billionaires put money into crypto and made their involvement in the market public.
Another analyst said the coronavirus pandemic, too, might have contributed. Ryan Browne, a crypto enthusiast and staffer at CNBC, said most crypto followers think of Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset. Investors often rotate to such assets during economic turbulence, he added.
Browne said that most investors now find sovereign currencies such as the U.S. dollar less appealing. Meanwhile, Greenspan thinks the Bitcoin halving in May might have contributed to the price increase.
The latest climb comes with even more good news. Some analysts think the current rally will last longer and that the cryptocurrency might ink a new record high.
Elon Musk has attacked Bitcoin, referring to the cryptocurrency as ghost money. The business magnate's comments came about when he rose the ranks to become the second richest man on the planet. However, his rebuke contradicts market sentiments and has not deterred the cryptocurrency from inching closer to the all-time high set in December 2017.