Opinion: Elon Musk’s tweets are dangerous for investors, but beneficial for the industry

Elon Musk’s ability to influence the cryptocurrency market with his tweets poses a danger to retail investors, said Erik Nurm, founder of the DeFi platform CoinSwap. Cointelegraph reports this Cointelegraph.

“Elon manipulates the market, creating FUD around Bitcoin. He is playing the same game as with the stock market. After the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] prohibited him from tweeting about Tesla, he shifted his attention to the digital-asset market,” he said.

According to Nurm, in the long run Musk’s impulsiveness benefits the cryptocurrency industry by drawing attention from a large number of people.

The founder of CoinSwap recalled an incident involving the CumRocket Crypto (CUMMIES) token from the adult-content industry. In early June, the billionaire posted a clip with the words “Canada, USA, Mexico,” after which the coin rose by more than 85%.

“His attempts to pump up the prices of certain tokens, such as Dogecoin and, more recently, CumRocket, are potentially more dangerous, as these obvious Pump & Dump schemes could leave ordinary people without a livelihood,” Nurm said.

On June 14, Musk posted a tweet stating that Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the Sun, while Uranus takes only 84 years. As a result, the price of the Uranus cryptocurrency (URAC) rose nearly threefold, according to CoinGecko.

Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun, but Uranus only takes 84

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2021

In the autumn of 2018, the SEC accused Musk of fraud after his tweet about plans to take Tesla private, buying out shares at $420 apiece. As part of a settlement, he stepped down as chairman, paid a fine, and agreed to have public statements about the company reviewed by lawyers.

In June 2021, media reports stated that, in the regulator’s view, the billionaire twice violated this agreement — in July 2018 and May 2020.

Earlier, on June 14, Musk announced that Tesla would resume selling electric cars for Bitcoin, if at least half of the miners switch to renewable energy. The price of digital gold rose by 12%.

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