Tesla boss Elon Musk once again causes turbulence in the crypto markets
With a single tweet, Elon Musk once again sparked fierce speculation about a possible sale of Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings, in the process sending the price of the most well-known cryptocurrency downhill. Bitcoin value fell more than 14 percent on Monday to a 3.5-month low of $42,130.28. In contrast, the second-largest currency, Ethereum, increased in value by 21%.
This is not the first time that a brief tweet from Musk has had a major impact on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. The situation was triggered by a Twitter post from the unverified account @CryptoWhale:
Elon Musk’s response, which contained only six letters, was enough to cause mayhem and send the price on a downward spiral, despite the fact that it was initially not clear whether he was actually referring to an actual sale of Bitcoin. Regardless, Bitcoin collapsed to around $42,000 within a few hours, and it wasn’t until the early morning that Musk gave the all-clear and confirmed that Tesla had not sold a single Bitcoin.
After the clarification the price recovered to $45,200 (as of 17 May, 2021 at 12:20 PM). Nevertheless, Bitcoin lost 20% of its value within two days of Musk first announcing that Tesla would no longer be accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment. The group made the decision because of the rapidly increasing consumption of fossil fuels for the production of and transactions involving Bitcoin – a worrying trend in the ‘wrong’ direction given the ongoing collective global efforts of international governments and industry in the struggle to address ecological and energy issues.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin found itself more than 30% short of the recent all-time high of nearly $65,000!
To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2021
Bitcoin’s price drop has affected online poker rooms and players
An increasing number of online poker players are very active in the crypto scene, and those who jumped on the bandwagon last year will have been very happy to see the enormous increase in value during recent months. Alas, such highs tend to be accompanied by equally significant lows, and this is evidenced very much in the case of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, which struggle with considerable fluctuations.
Depending on timing, these drastic price changes could mean less profit or, for those who invested more recently once new, higher plateaux had been reached, actual losses. The level of the downturn for many is as much as 30%, and this has had a seriously negative impact on both players and online poker rooms, the latter required to hold sufficient reserves to ensure payouts to players. GGPoker, Natural8, the Winning Poker (WPN) network and Chico are some of the bigger online providers that accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.
This, in turn, means that an increasing number of players use BTC or other cryptocurrencies when making transactions, particularly in those (numerous) countries where the popular e-wallet providers Skrill, Neteller and ecoPayz are not available, but cryptocurrencies are very popular. Furthermore, the providers who accept players from the USA and other countries that are normally not part of the international player pool, or where online poker is prohibited, in fact use cryptocurrencies as their main payment option.
What is the prognosis for Bitcoin and Co for the future?
The future of Bitcoin’s price cannot be simply forecast, with opinions and predictions of market experts varying wildly. Consequently, when it comes to making the investment decisions, investors shouldn’t rely on hopes and expectations; rather, short-term price signals can give us a possible clue to finding suitable entry and exit times. If you are thinking of investing in Bitcoin for the long-term, then you should pay less attention to the technical details and instead focus on fundamental developments in technology and the adaptation of the cryptocurrency.
The month-long Bitcoin price rally has sparked the interest of institutional investors and fueled speculation that the digital currency could one day replace gold as a “safe haven” worldwide. However, recent volatility has rekindled the views of skeptics who, in response to the staggering prices some predict, have long predicted that the Bitcoin bubble will inevitably burst.
It’s important to note that Bitcoin is becoming increasingly popular in society as a whole and is no longer an obscure, little-known financial option – a trend towards mainstream acceptance that has prompted some large companies to get involved. At the end of 2020 PayPal was one of the first global companies to take such a step, announcing that BTC will be installed as a payment option in the future.
The table below gives a fascinating glimpse into how the opinions of very respected experts can differ so greatly.
| Expert | Prediction |
|---|---|
| Bill Gates | $0 |
| Kenneth Rogoff | $100 |
| Tom Lee | $25,000 |
| David Drake | $30,000 |
| Jeet Singh | $50,000 |
| Bobby Lee | $60,000 |
| Dr. Julian Hosp | $100,000 |
| Mark Yusko | $100,000 to $500,000 |
| Tim Draper | $250,000 |
| John McAfee | $1,000,000 |
The truth is: Nobody can predict with anywhere near 100% accuracy the future price of Bitcoin. One can take fundamental and technical factors and derive an approximate direction from them, but the eventual outcome is written in the stars…
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