Bitcoin’s value has jumped by nearly 12 per cent after a fresh tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency was seen inching closer to $40,000 at around 1:20 pm.
Bitcoin’s closest rival Ether has jumped over 7 per cent from its value 24 hours ago; other altcoins like Ripple, Cardano, Dogecoin, Litecoin and Chainlink have also jumped sharply. It seems there has been a chain reaction after Musk’s tweet boosted the value of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has hit a two-week peak after Musk reacted to criticism against him for manipulating (pumping and dumping) price of the virtual coin. Replying to the allegation against him on Twitter, Musk said the view was inaccurate and added that Tesla may allow Bitcoin transactions in future.
Read | Elon Musk has a responsibility and should not tweet to manipulate crypto market, says CoinDCX CEO
“This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market. When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions,” he said.
It may be noted that Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, has been reacting to Musk’s views for months since Tesla announced a $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase in February and said it would accept it as payment for its vehicles.
This propelled the value of Bitcoin to new heights earlier this year, but at an equally sharp pace after the 49-year-old later said that the electric car maker would not accept the virtual currency due to environmental concerns related to mining Bitcoins.
However, the fresh statement from Musk has led to a sharp rally in Bitcoin price once again, helping it break above its 20-day moving average. Earlier in the day, it claimed further in Asia to hit $39,838.92.
Booby Ong, co-founder of crypto analytics website CoinGecko, told Reuters that the virtual coin market went through another round of correction over the week, but added that Musk’s tweet changed the sentiment.
Here are the latest prices and trends of popular cryptocurrencies:
|
Cryptocurrency |
Price (US Dollar) |
24-hour change |
Market cap (Billion) |
Volume (24 Hours) |
|
Bitcoin |
39,206.56 |
10.92% |
$734.50 |
$41.84 billion |
|
Ethereum (Ether) |
2,486.01 |
6.37% |
$289.07 |
$28.36 billion |
|
Dogecoin |
0.323952 |
4.10% |
$42.07 |
$1.72 million |
|
Litecoin |
168.26 |
5.47% |
$11.42 |
$2.94 billion |
|
XRP (Ripple) |
0.871539 |
5.58% |
$87.16 |
$2.21 million |
|
Cardano |
1.54 |
6.19% |
$49.36 |
$5.36 million |
“The market had been going through another round of correction over the weekend … until Elon Musk’s tweet of accepting BTC again for Tesla purchases changed sentiment,” Ong said.
He went on to add that the market was also supported by the software company and major bitcoin-backer MicroStrategy raising half a billion dollars to buy Bitcoin.
It may be noted that Bitcoin is up about 33 per cent this year, but has collapsed from a record peak of over $65,000 due to a regulatory crackdown in China and Musk’s ever-fluctuating stance.
(DISCLAIMER: The cryptocurrency prices have been updated as of 2:00 pm and will change as the day progresses. The list is intended to give a rough idea about popular cryptocurrency trends and will be updated on a daily basis.)