Nouriel Roubini: SEC Should Probe Elon Musk Over Bitcoin Market Manipulation

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should examine Elon Musk’s actions regarding the purchase of Bitcoin for possible market manipulation, economist Nouriel Roubini said in an interview with CoinDesk.

On February 8, Tesla disclosed in an SEC filing that it purchased its first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, for $1.5 billion. Before that, Musk posted a Bitcoin hashtag in his Twitter profile description. At the time, the head of Tesla had 44.1 million followers. After his actions, Bitcoin’s price surged.

Roubini also criticized MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor for moving a large portion of reserves into the volatile cryptocurrency. For the analytics software provider, an additional purchase on February 2 brought its holdings to 71,079 BTC, acquired for $1.145 billion.

In the interview, the economist again predicted a “collapse” of Bitcoin. He linked it to a possible criminal conviction of Tether and Bitfinex later this year. The proceedings continue to this day.

Roubini said the world will gradually abandon cash, and the United States will create an “electronic dollar.” In his view, national digital currencies would improve the effectiveness of monetary policy, including by enabling negative interest rates during crises.

In December, Roubini warned that Bitcoin would die as a result of actions by the new White House administration.

Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged to keep a close watch on the crypto markets. She intends to curb the use of digital currencies for criminal purposes.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce questioned whether there exists a way to fully ban Bitcoin.

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