Elon Musk is a crypto evangelist.
The billionaire is one of the most influential voices in the cryptocurrency market.
An announcement or comment from him about a digital currency can radically change the development of this asset. Those who follow the crypto market closely know that the billionaire is the main backer of the Dogecoin (DOGE) meme coin. If he withdraws his support for the cryptocurrency, DOGE would collapse as fast as its price has skyrocketed.
DOGE, which bears the image of the Shiba Inu dog as its logo and namesake, is the eighth digital currency in terms of market value, well ahead of cryptocurrencies associated with decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, believed to be the future of financial services.
Last July, Musk said he would personally continue buying Dogecoins despite struggles in the crypto market, which has lost over $2 trillion since its all-time high of $3 trillion a year ago. At the time, Tesla had sold 75% of its bitcoins, but the billionaire had said he had no intention of selling DOGE.
Bitcoin, Ether and DOGE
As the cryptocurrency industry is rocked by the FTX scandal, Musk has just picked the three digital currencies he believes have a future.
FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange, was valued at $32 billion in February but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11 for running out of money. It turns out that FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who bailed out many crypto firms by bailing them out over the summer, were using their clients’ money. They also hid that they were in bad financial shape.
It is uncertain whether FTX investors and customers will ever get their money back.
The other problem is that FTX and Bankman-Fried are associated with more than twenty crypto projects and companies. Therefore, their debacle poses a great threat to the entire crypto industry. Some experts compare FTX to the Lehman Brothers bank, whose collapse caused the 2008 financial crisis.
In that regard, Musk was asked about the future of cryptocurrencies during a November 13 Twitter Space.
The new Twitter (TWTR) – Get a free report Tesla Owners and CEOs (TSLA) – Get Free Report told listeners that the FTX debacle was a signal to keep their digital currencies in cold wallets and not on exchanges.
“I would reiterate that if you have crypto, you should have it in a directly accessible cold wallet. Not in an exchange,” said the serial entrepreneur. “That would be wise.”
While he is very critical of Bankman-Fried and FTX, Musk remains a believer in the crypto industry.
“I think there is probably a future for Bitcoin, Ethereum and DOGE. I can’t really talk to the others. But if you have one of those three in a cold wallet and off an exchange, I think my guess works fine,” Musk said.
‘Bullsh-t’
The billionaire also went after Bankman-Fried, whom he dubbed “Bullsh-t.”
“To be honest, I had never heard of him,” Musk told listeners. “But then I got a bunch of people telling me that he has huge amounts of money that he wants to invest in the Twitter deal. And I talked to him for about half an hour. And I know my bullshit meter turned red. It was like, this guy is bullshit – that was my impression.
He continued, “Then I was like, man, everyone’s made big investments — everyone’s been talking about him like he’s walking on water and he’s got a million dollars. And the [was] not my impression…this guy is just – there’s something wrong and he has no capital and he’s not going to pull through. That was my prediction.”