When Reuters reported Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s comments that owning bitcoin was only a little better than holding conventional cash we might have thought ‘why bother then?’. But then our favourite Bond villain crossed with David Bowie also commented that it was the slight difference that made the bitcoin the better asset to hold.
“However, when fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere,” Musk tweeted. “Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is ‘almost’,” explained Lord Musk.
So ‘look’ at bitcoin he has. If ‘look’ means investing $1.5 billion in it, that is.
Now, we have to confess, here at NTK Motors we’re still not exactly sure what bitcoin is or what it does. Are you? Really?
What we do know is that if Elon or Tesla moves on it then it’s gong excite a lot of others to do the same. And that’s why the ‘value’ of this cryptocurrency soared to its highest ever ‘worth’ to well above $50,000. Bitcoin was steady just below a record peak of $51,284 on Friday.
Of course, having over 47 million Twitter followers makes Mr Musk one hell of an influencer. Which is why Forbes this weekend cited Ol’ Musky as having the ability to move markets just by tweeting. Like when, in January, he helped push the value of bitcoin up 20% with a simple #bitcoin in his Twitter biog.
So whether you understand the whole cryptocurrency thing or not, you’ve got to admit that a) Elon Musk is rich and is getting richer; and b) his power over markets and people and – soon – the universe is big and getting bigger.
Is that a scary thing? Or a good thing? Tell us at andy@needtoknowmotors.com