Decoding Musk's View on Cryptocurrency: It's More Than Just Play

Author: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

On July 22, Musk changed his profile picture to the laser eyes account at the request of X platform user @Chriswinig.

Due to the existence of the #LaserRayUntil100K meme (which means he will keep the laser eyes profile picture until the Bitcoin price breaks $100,000), this move is seen as Musk's renewed support for the cryptocurrency industry (even though he has since changed back to his original profile picture).

In no time, Musk became the "focus of cryptocurrency" again, and it had been three years since he last changed his profile picture to "Laser Eyes Girl." Odaily Planet Daily will summarize Musk's related behaviors and views on the cryptocurrency industry in this article, allowing readers to understand this "tech fanatic" behind SpaceX and Tesla from more angles.

Conceptual Beginnings: Starting with ETH

In 2018, after experiencing a price surge at the beginning of the year, ETH gradually fell from $1,410 to less than $300 by the end of August, marking the first major test of faith for insiders regarding ETH and cryptocurrencies.

Although Musk's attitude towards cryptocurrencies was ambiguous, often filled with jokes, he indeed paid significant attention to cryptocurrencies, including ETH.

On August 29, Musk tweeted, "At this point, even if it's a scam, I want ETH." Although ETH's price continued to decline and even fell below $100 by the end of the year, Musk's "friendly attitude" towards cryptocurrencies did help promote education and awareness about cryptocurrencies, including ETH and BTC.

It is worth mentioning that at that time, whether Tesla would support cryptocurrency payments and whether Musk used cryptocurrencies during Tesla's privatization were hot topics on the internet. The SEC even sued Musk for making "false and misleading statements."

ETH price on August 29, 2018

On April 30, 2019, seven months later, Musk tweeted again: "Ethereum." Just when people thought he was "clearly bullish" on ETH, he added in the comments seven minutes later: "jk" (commonly seen as an abbreviation for "joke"). It was then that people realized he was mocking Ethereum as a joke.

Later that day, he tweeted again asking, "What should be developed on Ethereum?" The two highly upvoted comments in the reply section represented the vastly different attitudes people had towards cryptocurrencies at the time: one viewpoint suggested that while it was uncertain if Ethereum was a suitable platform, perhaps Tesla's micropayment economy could be an interesting sub-project; the other viewpoint argued that Ethereum's only purpose was to allow founders to get rich overnight under the guise of decentralization.

Musk's tweet and highly upvoted comments

These viewpoints may have influenced Musk's "cryptocurrency perspective" to some extent, but this would soon change with the rise of DOGE.

Shift in Perspective: The Birth of the DOGE Father

On April 1, 2019, on April Fool's Day, Musk was elected as the CEO of Dogecoin by its Twitter fans, and he subsequently changed his Twitter bio to "Former CEO of Dogecoin." This marked the beginning of Musk's deep connection with DOGE.

On April 3, Musk commented on an article about Bitcoin, stating, "The value of DOGE may be different." However, the next day, on April 4, he deleted his bio. It can be said that Musk has a history of frequently changing his bio and profile picture.

In July 2020, Musk once again "clearly expressed" his support for DOGE—when asked about Bitcoin, he replied on Twitter that he "only buys Dogecoin," accompanied by an image of a "Dogecoin dust storm" sweeping through a city called "Global Financial System," stating, "This is inevitable." DOGE briefly surpassed 0.0036 USDT, with an intraday increase of nearly 20%.

Musk's tweet with accompanying image

In December 2020, Musk mentioned DOGE again on Twitter, stating that Bitcoin was almost as ridiculous as fiat currency. Following this news, DOGE saw a 24-hour increase of over 12%.

As 2021 progressed, Musk's mentions of DOGE became more frequent, and the "intimacy" between them was about to reach a peak, culminating in Musk's decisive actions.

Between January and March 2021, Musk repeatedly mentioned DOGE and praised it, calling it "the people's cryptocurrency" and "the most interesting cryptocurrency," and expressed support for Coinbase listing DOGE. In April, after Musk posted an image of "Doge howling at the moon," DOGE's intraday increase exceeded 200%, and it skyrocketed fivefold in just five days. Just when people thought Musk had firmly secured the title of "DOGE Father" and would lead DOGE "TO DA MOON," Musk finally "couldn't hold back."

Beeple's creation of Musk as XDOGE NFT

On May 9, during an episode of the American variety show "Saturday Night Live," Musk first stated that "DOGE is the future of currency, an unstoppable financial tool that will take over the world. DOGE is as real as dollar bills." However, under the host's seemingly boring repeated questioning, Musk ultimately conceded—admitting that Dogecoin is a "scam."

Although Musk later highly affirmed DOGE's role in transaction costs and payment convenience, even stating it "could be more efficient than the Lightning Network," the relationship between them was no longer as it once was.

From then on, Musk's perspective on cryptocurrencies became increasingly rational, which can also be seen as a form of "maturity."

Perspective Upgrade: Cryptocurrency Supporter

If Musk's attitude towards cryptocurrencies before 2021 was one of mockery, jokes, and even sarcasm (he once called "cryptocurrency" his "safe word"), after 2021, his attitude towards cryptocurrencies undoubtedly underwent a significant "upgrade"—this was not only influenced by DOGE but also stemmed from a deeper understanding of the "monetary system."

In February 2021, Tesla purchased BTC for the first time when Bitcoin's price was below $39,000, spending a total of $1.5 billion. At that time, Musk believed Bitcoin would soon be widely accepted by traditional finance people and stated, "I am a Bitcoin supporter; I should have bought Bitcoin eight years ago. I regret not joining this feast earlier."

In early May 2021, before appearing on a show, Musk retweeted a video titled "Musk Says Dogecoin Could Be the Future of Cryptocurrency," adding, "Cryptocurrency has great prospects, but please invest cautiously!" That month, Musk stated that cryptocurrencies are a means to combat currency devaluation and government capital control; later, when asked about those who were angry at him because of cryptocurrencies, Musk responded, "The real battle is between fiat and cryptocurrency. Overall, I support the latter."

In September 2021, he stated at an offline event, "The U.S. government should avoid trying to regulate the cryptocurrency market."

In December 2021, under a tweet where then-YC president Sam Altman highly praised the investment returns of Web3, Musk commented, "Web3 sounds like bullshit." Subsequently, he also tweeted multiple times mocking the concept of Web3, stating, "The current Web3 is more like a marketing buzzword than reality," and suggested that "NFTs are another form of the dollar."

As 2022 rolled in, Musk's main focus shifted to "acquiring Twitter," but cryptocurrencies remained a key area of interest—In March, while replying to a comment from a user, he stated, "I still hold and will not sell my Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin."

After a series of negotiations, acquisitions, counter-acquisitions, debates over free speech, lawsuits, and counter-lawsuits, Musk officially completed the acquisition and privatization of Twitter in October for $44 billion, merging it into the original X company and even renaming Twitter to "X" platform. Following this news, cryptocurrencies like DOGE and SHIB surged. Notably, this acquisition was also supported by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, a fact later confirmed by founder CZ.

Additionally, in May 2022, Musk briefly changed his Twitter profile picture to an image of a BAYC NFT, then changed it back, stating "it's replaceable." Following this news, the price of the APE token fell below $16, further highlighting his significant influence in the cryptocurrency space.

At this point, Musk, with X (formerly Twitter), Tesla, SpaceX, and other internet companies, new energy vehicle companies, and rocket companies, still holds a "huge influence" over the cryptocurrency industry.

Conclusion: A Participant in the Cryptocurrency Wave, Not a Bystander

In 2023, Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn revealed that the company sold most of its Bitcoin last year. According to SEC documents, Tesla made approximately $192 million in profits from cryptocurrency investments.

In May, Musk posted images of the NFT project Milady on Twitter, causing the project's floor price to surge nearly 100% at one point (this was also mentioned in a previous article introducing Milady's founder titled "The Untold Story of NFT 'Cult' Milady Founder Charlotte Fang").

In October, Tesla's financial report showed that the company did not buy or sell any Bitcoin in Q3 2023, marking five consecutive quarters without any trading activity. As of September 30, Tesla held approximately 9,720 Bitcoins, valued at around $275.6 million.

This year, Musk's focus has once again returned to the meme coin sector, including:

In January, Musk changed his X account bio to "(CTO) Chief Troll Officer," which led to a meme coin called TROLL, deployed in April 2023, eventually emerging with a market cap that briefly surpassed $85 million.

In February, Musk tweeted "I love puppies," leading to the meme project PUPPIES achieving over 1,100% growth within two weeks in April, with a market cap of approximately $30 million.

In March, Musk replied to a tweet from the creator of the term "Meme," Richard Dawkins, author of "The Selfish Gene," which also drove up some tokens in the meme sector. Additionally, on the 18th, he posted a picture of a hat dog on the X platform to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. This led to a more than 30% increase in the related meme coin WIF over 24 hours.

In May, Musk posted a photo on the X platform paying tribute to DOGE, which caused DOGE to briefly surpass 0.17 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 8.66%. On May 30, market news indicated that Musk had provided some cryptocurrency advice to Trump, rapidly warming their relationship.

As it is an election year in the United States, Musk has also frequently expressed his views, recently stating his support for Trump, even "changing his profile picture to celebrate" after Biden withdrew from the presidential race.

Moreover, Tesla's latest Q2 2024 financial report revealed that the company still did not sell or buy any Bitcoin in the second quarter of this year, marking its eighth consecutive quarter without any trading activity. It currently holds approximately 9,720 Bitcoins, with a purchase cost of about $337 million, which has now appreciated to $624 million.

Looking back at his tumultuous relationship with cryptocurrencies over the past few years, we can see that although he is not directly involved in the industry, Musk still shows immense enthusiasm and attention towards it. Furthermore, he opposes excessive government regulation and high capital control, and to some extent, he can be seen as a "participant with a spirit of crypto-ideology."

After all, as he said, "I never said people should invest in cryptocurrencies," but "I hope cryptocurrencies can improve the efficiency of the core of money."