Did Elon Musk really buy bitcoin?
The company initially bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in early 2021, with CEO Elon Musk giving a boost to bitcoin prices by also saying Tesla would accept bitcoin as payment for its cars, which Musk eventually backtracked on.
The firm, led by Elon Musk, invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin in February 2021, reportedly accumulating around 43,000 tokens. In the same month, Tesla said it would begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. The company, however, walked back on its intentions in the subsequent months.
Among cryptocurrency's many proponents, none stands out more than Elon Musk, the maverick CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. Musk's fascination with the world of crypto has been on full display in recent years, and he's not shy about throwing his considerable influence behind his preferred digital coin: Dogecoin.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is believed to own the most bitcoins, with estimates suggesting over 1 million BTC mined in the early days of the network.
On Friday evening, Tesla CEO Elon Musk vociferously denied that any of his companies will ever issue a cryptocurrency, after months of feverish speculation that the tech tycoon was toying with the idea of launching a crypto token.
Musk hopped in to explain Tesla's decision to convert its Bitcoin holdings was not a "verdict" on Bitcoin, but was made to improve its cash position due to uncertainty over COVID-19 restrictions in China, which impacted its Shanghai Gigafactory.
Tesla last year stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, citing concerns about the climate impact of energy-intensive Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin remains open-source, meaning that no one has the power to own or control it in its entirety.
Elon Musk's involvement with Dogecoin has also attracted significant attention. Before the previous bull run, he referred to himself as the Dogefather and even made an appearance on SNL.
As of March 2023, the top 1% of Bitcoin addresses hold over 90% of the total Bitcoin supply, according to Bitinfocharts.
How many dollars does it take to buy one Bitcoin?
| Amount | Today at 1:17 pm |
|---|---|
| 0.5 BTC | $34,438.30 |
| 1 BTC | $68,876.59 |
| 5 BTC | $344,382.97 |
| 10 BTC | $688,765.95 |
How many people own 1 full Bitcoin? According to the blockchain analysis platform BitInfoCharts, more than 1 million wallet addresses hold at least 1 BTC.
The co-founder of Tesla Inc. revealed on Twitter that he owns only a tiny fraction of one bitcoin token. "I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from . 25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago," Musk confessed.
Tesla still holds 9,720 Bitcoins, worth around $400 million at current prices. It will be interesting to see whether it holds on to the tokens in 2024 or sells. In the past, sales of Bitcoin have come when the price rises to new highs or when Tesla is in a tough spot financially.
Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm PayPal, and in 2002 he founded SpaceX, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He was a major early funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars and batteries, and became its chief executive officer in 2008. He cofounded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company, in 2016.
The price of bitcoin has nosedived after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company was suspending plans to accept the cryptocurrency as payment for electric vehicles. Bitcoin was down 12% as of 6:50 a.m. ET on Thursday — bringing the coin's price down to about $49,300, according to cryptocurrency news website Coindesk.
Cryptocurrency prices plunged as investors liquidated more than $1 billion worth of digital coins on Thursday after it was reported that Elon Musk's SpaceX sold off its bitcoin holdings.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it bought the bitcoin for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.”
Ultimately, investing in bitcoin is a personal decision, whether you're buying ETFs or actual digital coins. If you decide to invest, you should have an already diversified portfolio of assets like index funds. You typically don't want to invest money in speculative assets you can't afford to lose.
How Many Bitcoins Have Been Mined? As of January 2023, 19.39 million bitcoins have already been mined, with about 1.7 million bitcoins still to be released. The total bitcoin supply is capped at 21 million.
Who is the CEO of Bitcoin?
| Type of site | Private |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| CEO | Corbin Fraser |
| Industry | Cryptocurrency |
Sarathy concurs that there are risks involved with investing in these cryptocurrencies, including price volatility, cybersecurity concerns and a lack of regulations compared to traditional currency. Ultimately, it's up to each individual user how much risk they want to take.
In a January ask-and-answer session on X, Cuban said that his crypto portfolio includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon and Injective, and that his NBA team the Dallas Mavericks still accepts Dogecoin as payment.
To tally their wealth, Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from March 8, 2024. Bernard Arnault and his family are at number one, with a net worth of $233 billion.
Amid this frenzy, one of the most seasoned voices in investment, Warren Buffett, has consistently made clear his stance on the matter: he wants nothing to do with cryptocurrency.
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