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‘I Might Pump, But I Don’t Dump.’ Why Elon Musk Still Loves Bitcoin.

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‘I Might Pump, But I Don’t Dump.’ Why Elon Musk Still Loves Bitcoin.

A banner (designed by artists Stacey Coon, Anastasia Sultzer, and Nanu Berk) with the logo of Bitcoin is seen during the cryptocurrency conference Bitcoin 2021 Convention at the Mana Convention Center in Miami, Florida, on June 4, 2021.

Marco Bello/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reiterated support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin at the online B Word conference Wednesday, saying he personally would lose money if the cryptos lost value and that Tesla will resume taking payments in Bitcoin, assuming it’s produced with a higher percentage of renewable energy.

“The three things I own outside SpaceX and Tesla (ticker: TSLA) are Bitcoin, by far, some Ethereum and some Dogecoin,” Musk said, speaking at The B Word online forum. “If the price of Bitcoin goes down, I lose money.”

Musk was speaking online with Square (SQ) CEO Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wood, chief investment officer and founder of ARK Invest.

Musk has been criticized for whipsawing the crypto market—tweeting support for Bitcoin and Doge and then raising concerns about the environmental toll of mining cryptos. But he said that he’s been holding on to his crypto assets.

“I might pump, but I don’t dump,” Musk said. “I don’t believe in getting the price high and selling, and I would like to see Bitcoin succeed.”

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Tesla stopped taking payments in Bitcoin as Musk raised concerns about the massive energy production used to mine the crypto—much of it produced in China from coal-fired plants. But China has effectively banned crypto mining and the computer network is shifting to the U.S. and other regions.

The network’s shift may be lifting the amount of Bitcoin that’s produced through renewable sources. If that continues, Musk said, Tesla will resume taking payments in Bitcoin.

“We want to do a bit more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50% and that there is a trend to increasing that number,” Musk said. “If so, Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin.” 

Dorsey noted that if Bitcoin existed before Twitter, which he co-founded, the entire ad model of social media might not have come about.

“If you consider Bitcoin existing before YouTube, Twitter, Facebook (FB), a lot of these business models we have today wouldn’t be the same,” he said.

Wood, for her part, reiterated views that Bitcoin will serve as a hedge against inflation, especially in countries with hyperinflation and the potential for private wealth to be confiscated. People in those countries are “going to migrate to Bitcoin and other ways to preserve purchasing power.” She added that she’s also concerned about deflation forces and that Bitcoin could hedge against that.

Musk indicated that one reason Tesla holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet is that interest rates are near zero worldwide and have gone negative in Europe. Tesla’s bank balances in Europe have negative interest rates, Musk added. “It’s quite annoying to see your bank balance drop in Europe,” he said. “This is insane.”

Musk didn’t leave out support for Dogecoin, plugging it as he’s done periodically. “Doge is somewhat irreverent and has great memes,” he said, noting that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. While Occam’s razor says the simplest outcome is most likely, Musk added that the most ironic and entertaining outcomes may also be most likely.

“If that’s true then the most ironic and entertaining outcome is the crypto that started as a joke ends up being the most ironic outcome.”

His hope for Bitcoin, he added, is that it can improve the “core efficiency” of money, he added. “This will lead to a better standard of living and more power to the individual, which I very much agree with.”

Investors and traders appear to have anticipated that Musk, Dorsey, and Wood would plug cryptos. Bitcoin was recently trading around $31,670, gaining 6.4% in the last 24 hours and moving well above its recent lows around $29,000. Ethereum was also higher, up 8.9% to $1,945, and Dogecoin was up nearly 10% to $0.18755.

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