A single tweet by Tesla founder Elon Musk wiped more than US$55 billion off the cryptocurrency market after he implied on Sunday that the company might have sold its Bitcoin holdings.
Fast Facts:
- Bitcoin’s price fell to below US$43,500 after Musk appeared to agree with a Twitter post that Tesla should divest its Bitcoin holdings. It was trading at $43,356.70 at 00:52am EST.
- Twitter user @CryptoWhale tweeted on Sunday: “Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings.” Musk’s one-word reply, “Indeed,” sent the market into a spin.
- Bitcoin defenders reacted quickly, with Twitter user @satdart replying: “What he was trying to say is that you’re giving a known scammer a platform.”