Advertisement
Elon Musk says bitcoin prices ‘seem high’ after market value of cryptocurrency crosses US$1 trillion for the first time
- Musk tweeted that ‘BTC & ETH do seem high lol’ after earlier calling bitcoin a ‘less dumb’ version of cash
- Musk gave impetus to bitcoin joining the mainstream when Tesla said it invested US$1.5 billion and was prepared to begin accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for its cars
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Bitcoin surged to another record on Saturday after reaching more than US$1 trillion in market value for the first time, leaving some of its biggest backers in a state of wonderment.
Advertisement
In a tweet, Elon Musk said bitcoin prices “seem high”. The world’s richest person was replying to Peter Schiff – a cryptocurrency sceptic and gold bug – who said the precious metal is better than bitcoin and fiat money.
“Money is just data that allows us to avoid the inconvenience of barter,” Musk tweeted. “That data, like all data, is subject to latency & error.” In a following post, he added, “that said, BTC & ETH do seem high lol”.
Tesla CEO Musk earlier called bitcoin a “less dumb” version of cash. The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 3.4 per cent to a record high of US$57,527 on Saturday before paring gains to US$57,040 at 1:26pm in New York. It’s surged 56 per cent since the end of January and more than quadrupled last year. For several years after its debut more than a decade ago, bitcoin traded for just a few cents.
Cryptocurrency believers are duelling with sceptics for the dominant narrative around the climb: the former see an asset being embraced for its ability to hedge risks such as inflation, while the latter sense a precarious mania riding atop waves of monetary and fiscal stimulus.
Advertisement
Musk gave impetus to bitcoin joining the mainstream when Tesla said it invested US$1.5 billion and was prepared to begin accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for its cars. According to Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities, Tesla has made a profit of about US$1 billion over the past month from that bet.
Advertisement