The world’s largest digital asset, bitcoin, plummeted sharply following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s twitter comments on Wednesday resulting in hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.
Bitcoin fell to a new low of $45,700 on Wednesday— the lowest since the beginning of March, before recovering to nearly $49,000 at the time of writing. The sudden decline in price is largely attributed to a recent tweet posted by Musk, announcing that Tesla will no longer accept bitcoin as payment due to environmental impacts. The Tesla CEO pointed to the excessive use of fossil fuels and electricity needed for bitcoin mining.
The value of the entire crypto market suffered a plunge, with more than $365 billion being wiped out from the entire cryptocurrency market. The market dropped to around $2 trillion, before paring back some of the earlier declines. Musk’s comments have been known to trigger significant fluctuations in financial markets; back in March, the billionaire announced that Tesla would begin accepting bitcoin as payment after the automaker purchased $1.5 billion worth of the digital token, sending its price skyrocketing.
Information for this briefing was found via CoinMarketCap. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
