LONDON/SINGAPORE: Bitcoin fell more than 7% on Friday, with tweets by Tesla boss Elon Musk that appeared to lament a breakup with the cryptocurrency again moving markets.
Tesla's big position in bitcoin and Musk's large personal following set crypto markets on edge whenever he tweets, and the price fell after he posted "#Bitcoin" https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1400620080090730501, a broken-heart emoji and a picture of a couple discussing a breakup.
Musk followed up by posting a breakup comic strip and replying "nice" to an illustration of rival crypto dogecoin posted by crypto exchange Coinbase. It was unclear what, if anything, any of the tweets meant.
Musk has previously said Tesla would not sell its bitcoin, but his tweets were enough to unsettle markets still fragile following May's crash. Bitcoin's fall pushed it below its 20-day moving average to as low as $36,263, and took some of the edge off its week-to-date gains. It is up 2% so far this week.
Musk has been a major promoter of cryptocurrencies but has turned critical of bitcoin since suspending Tesla plans to take it in payment for cars, owing to concerns about its energy use. Many crypto specialists have struggled to understand the motives behind his tweets.
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