Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on June 14 (local time) that Bitcoin miners would resume payment in Bitcoin if they use clean energy appropriately. As a result, the price of Bitcoin rose more than 10% per day, surpassing the $40,000 mark in two weeks.
In response to a tweet from a cryptocurrency news site (Cointelegraph) introducing an article that Elon Musk was manipulating the market, Tesla sold only 10% of its holdings, but these bitcoins were simply settled without the need to move the market. He tweeted that in the future, if clean energy is used appropriately for bitcoin mining, Tesla will also resume bitcoin payments.
On February 8, 2021, Tesla announced that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, and on March 24, announced that it would purchase Tesla cars in Bitcoin. As a result, the price of Bitcoin temporarily crossed the $60,400 mark. However, on May 12, 49 days later, he announced that he was suspending Tesla’s Bitcoin payments due to environmental concerns. The price of Bitcoin fell sharply and on May 19th it was below $30,000.
Of course, it’s not just Elon Musk’s remarks that contributed to Bitcoin’s rise again. On June 15, US software company MicroStrategy announced that $488 million of the proceeds from the sale of private bonds will be used to purchase Bitcoin. It also announced the possibility of selling up to $1 billion of shares to buy bitcoin in the future. Even in August 2020, MicroStrategy spent $250 million on Bitcoin because it was better than cash. According to SEC filings, MicroStrategy has $3.7 billion worth of bitcoins as of June 4, and it is estimated that the company’s bitcoin value has increased by 15 billion won.
In addition, information on bitcoins traded in El Salvador, which had just passed the bill to legalize bitcoin on June 8, is also disclosed. According to a blockchain-specialized analysis company, the total amount of Bitcoin remitted to Korea by El Salvadorians working abroad increased four-fold compared to the same period of the previous year as of May. El Salvador’s economy relies heavily on remittances from migrant workers abroad, with total remittances totaling $6 billion in 2019, equivalent to one-fifth of GDP. Bitcoin price is rising 5% soon after discovering that El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as its fiat currency. Related information can be found here.