Elon Musk moves markets: Tesla founder causes the price of Bitcoin and Dogecoin to soar after making mysterious references to the companies on Twitter sparking speculation he has invested in cryptocurrency
Elon Musk has caused the price of Dogeoin and Bitcoin to surge after making references to both the companies on Twitter.
On Thursday evening, the billionaire tweeted out an image of a dog on a magazine cover, sparking speculation he had invested in Dogecoin - a cryptocurrency company that initially began as a joke.
The image prompted the price of Dogecoin to jump a staggering 420 percent to $0.079. As of 1pm Friday, it is trading at $0.042.
Just hours later, Musk moved markets again after cryptically mentioning Bitcoin on the social media site.
The Tesla founder added the word '#bitcoin' to his Twitter bio in the early hours of Friday morning, prompting Bitcoin to soar to a 10-day high of $38,566 just before 9am Friday. As of 1pm, Bitcoin is trading at $35,702.
Some social media users are now speculating that Musk may announce new investments in the cryptocurrency companies.
The billionaire is an extremely influential figure on Twitter, where he is followed by 43.8 million users.
However, he has a record of making market-moving comments on the site, which have caused widespread criticism and led him into legal trouble.
Elon Musk has caused the price of Dogeoin and Bitcoin to surge after making mysterious references to both the companies on Twitter
On Thursday evening, the billionaire tweeted out an image of a dog on a magazine cover, sparking speculation he had invested in Dogecoin - a cryptocurrency that initially started out as a joke
The image prompted the price of Dogecoin to jump a staggering 420 percent, to $0.079. As of 1pm Friday, it is trading at $0.042
Just hours later, Musk moved markets again after cryptically mentioning Bitcoin in his Twitter bio
The Tesla founder added the word '#bitcoin' to his bio in the wee hours of Friday morning, prompting Bitcoin to soar to a 10-day high of $38,566 just before 9am Friday. As of 1pm, Bitcoin is trading at $35,702
Back in August 2018, Musk shared a tweet claiming that he had 'funding secured' to take Tesla private at $420 a share. It sent the company's stock soaring and forced a halt in trading.
Musk reportedly gained $851 million in the wake of posting that tweet.
The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk for fraud for 'false and misleading tweets' claiming he simply chose the $420 price because the number is a marijuana reference which would 'amuse' his girlfriend.
Musk was fined $20 million and was forced to resign as chairman of Tesla after reaching a settlement with the Commission.
Later that year, Musk and the SEC subsequently reached a separate deal which required the the billionaire to have tweets about certain topic pre-approved by an experienced securities lawyer.
He must now not tweet out information about Tesla's financial condition, potential or proposed merger, production numbers or sales, or new or proposed business lines' for fear it could manipulate the market.
Musk said he was taking his company private at $420 a share, which the SEC alleges was a number chosen to get a laugh out of his girlfriend, who introduced him to marijuana
However, that hasn't stopped him from commenting on various other public companies on Twitter - with the results also altering the market.
On Tuesday, for example, GameStop Corp surged 50 percent after Musk tweeted 'Gamestonk!!', along with a link to the Reddit Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion group.
'Stonks' is a tongue-in-cheek term for stocks widely used on social media.
GameStop is currently at the center of a retail trading frenzy currently after a group of investors on Reddit joined forces to push up the stock price of the troubled video game chain.
And last month, Musk sent shares of Dogecoin up nearly 20 per cent after tweeting about the cryptocurrency.
'One word: Doge,' he posted on Twitter, after hitting out at Bitcoin.
'Bitcoin is almost as BS as fiat money,' he wrote.
The commentary has prompted financial experts and pundits to publicly criticize Musk for his seeming recklessness.
One expert told CNBC on Friday: 'Musk's tweets can have devastating consequences for retail investors whilst he and his friends enrich themselves at the expense of the little guy.'
Entrepreneur and tech investor Rich Pleeth, told CNBC that Musk can 'enrich himself with one tweet.'
'He is an innovator but that doesn't mean he's above the law,' Pleeth said.
Musk's tweets last month about cryptocurrency also caused a shake in the stock market