With notable startups, like Neuralink, OpenAI, and SpaceX, and being the CEO of other companies, like Tesla and Twitter, Elon Musk has been a prominent figure in the tech industry for years. 

The billionaire entrepreneur, who has repeatedly found his name on the list of the wealthiest people in the world, continues to be a role model for newbies looking to break into the industry.

Satoshi Nakamoto developed one of the greatest innovations in the history of mankind: cryptocurrency. The anonymous programmer(s) took the world by storm on January 3, 2009, when Nakamoto went public with Bitcoin. Since then, thousands of other cryptocurrencies have been created and have found their way into the mainstream. 

Although cryptocurrencies were just an idea in the 1980s, they have become some of the most traded and talked about digital assets of all time. 

In less than a decade, the value of Bitcoin rose from $0.0008 to $20,000, with an all-time high of $68,789.63. This phenomenon has attracted several investors into the crypto space. Countless organizations and firms have had to adopt the use of cryptocurrencies to attend to their client base. 

Musk’s tweets have massively impacted the crypto market

The first time Elon Musk tweeted about crypto was on November 27, 2017. The tech mogul denied a user’s theory about him being Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous developer of Bitcoin.

A few months later, the 51-year-old tech mogul stated that he “literally” owned zero cryptos, other than 0.25 BTC that was gifted to him years prior to that moment.

In December 2020, the billionaire tweeted “One Word: Doge.” Reportedly, this three-word tweet increased the average trading volume of DOGE/USDT, which was about $1,942 per minute half an hour before the tweet, to $299,330 per minute.

On January 28, 2021, Musk significantly impacted the price of DOGE. His tweet caused the value of the meme coin to be 300% of its initial value in just four hours.

In a tweet on January 25, 2022, the SpaceX founder shared that he would eat a McDonald’s Happy Meal if the fast food giant began accepting Dogecoin. Not only was his request granted, but there was also a 9% rise in the price of Dogecoin.

Less than a month after, Elon Musk created a poll on Twitter on “the future currency of Earth”. With 71.3% of voters opting for “Dogecoin to the Moooonn”, the value of the meme coin moved from $0.048356 to $0.065448.

On April 28, the Twitter CEO dubbed himself the “dogefather” days before he hosted the popular Saturday Night Live show. Coupled with fellow billionaire Mark Cuban’s investments, the cryptocurrency saw a 30% increase in its value.

The CEO of Tesla then announced on May 13, 2022, that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles. Musk stated this decision by the car manufacturer was due to the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining. The process requires the use of fossil fuels like coal, which is known to have the worst emissions a fuel can have. As a result of this, the value of Bitcoin dropped from $54,819 to $45,700. 

Two weeks later, Musk tweeted on a Friday that Doge could be used as a payment option for Tesla merch and, later on, SpaceX merch. This simple action caused a surge in the value of Dogecoin for a while.

In June, the entrepreneur faced a $258 billion lawsuit alleging him of operating a pyramid scheme to support Dogecoin. In response to this threat, he tweeted “I will keep supporting Dogecoin.”

Musk dials down his blockchain tweets

As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.”. Musk has been criticized quite a number of times regarding his influence on cryptocurrencies. By June, the billionaire investor reduced his efforts in the crypto market. Although, in 2022’s Time’s Person of the Year article, Musk claimed that he does not actually have an impact on markets. According to him, markets move themselves all the time, based on nothing as far as I can tell.

The billionaire seems to have shifted his focus from the crypto space to artificial intelligence, as confirmed by one of his most recent tweets. Elon Musk is the co-founder of OpenAI, the company behind the lately famous AI known as ChatGPT. Despite being skeptical about the power of artificial intelligence, the tech mogul has invested in a couple of AI startups such as Voice.AI.

Celebrities and their actions in the crypto world

There have been many controversies regarding celebrity endorsements in the crypto space. In 2022 alone, these celebrities have faced social media backlash and lawsuits over associated crypto projects. 

Reality superstar Kim Kardashian and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather faced another class action lawsuit against EthereumMax and its founders. Both celebrities had promoted EMAX and were alleged to have “made false or misleading statements to artificially inflate the price of the token”. The lawsuit was however dismissed as the filings did not meet the “highest plea standards” for the plaintiffs’ claims.

Despite what could be said to be the negative side of endorsing such projects, there are numerous benefits to it as well. In the middle of 2022, Binance recruited TikTok influencer Khaby Lame in its goal of global Web3 adoption. Popular musical artists, such as Snoop Dogg and Eminem, and legendary sports players, like Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, are also enjoying their respective endorsement deals with crypto firms.

What do you think about the influence of celebrities like Elon Musk on the crypto market? Do you think they should be stopped or left alone to carry on their actions?