Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and main executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020.

Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Elon Musk is doubling down on his flirtation with bitcoin.

Early Friday, the billionaire Tesla manager extra the hashtag #bitcoin to his Twitter bio, in a shift that served to briefly drive up the price tag of the cryptocurrency by as much as 20%.

In a dialogue on the popular Clubhouse audio chat application late Sunday PT, Musk confirmed he was a supporter of bitcoin.

“I have received to watch what I say listed here due to the fact some of these items can actually move the industry,” Musk reported. “Numerous buddies of mine have tried to influence me to get concerned in bitcoin for a lengthy time.”

Musk mentioned he after ate a slice of “bitcoin cake” presented to him by a mate in 2013, and that he “plainly … need to have at minimum acquired some bitcoin eight several years ago — discuss about getting late to the occasion.”

“I do at this stage assume bitcoin is a very good issue, and I am a supporter of bitcoin,” Musk stated.

“I think bitcoin is really on the verge of receiving wide acceptance by typical finance individuals.”

Musk included that he will not have “strong viewpoint” on other virtual currencies. He has tweeted about the meme-dependent cryptocurrency dogecoin in the previous, and in 2019 he indicated that it was his “fav cryptocurrency.”

Last week, dogecoin skyrocketed as a lot as 800% in the room of 24 hrs following a tweet from Musk was taken by Reddit end users to indicate he was throwing his assist guiding the token.

“Often I make jokes about dogecoin but they are really just intended to be jokes,” Musk mentioned Sunday. “Dogecoin was built as a joke to make enjoyment of cryptocurrencies.”

“But destiny loves irony,” he added jokingly. “The most entertaining consequence and the most ironic final result would be that dogecoin gets to be the forex of Earth in the future.”

Cryptocurrency markets ended up primarily unmoved by Musk’s opinions, with bitcoin and dogecoin actually falling somewhat soon soon after he spoke. Dogecoin was even now up 40% in the final 24 hours, just after a substantial slump around the weekend.

Bitcoin much more than quadrupled in selling price more than the study course of last yr. It then strike a new all-time significant of nearly $42,000 at the beginning of 2021. Bullish buyers say the electronic coin has gotten a improve from greater institutional curiosity and the notion that it is a harmless-haven asset akin to gold.