Elon Musk called cash “dumb” when compared to Bitcoin. The Tesla CEO, who’s known for not holding back when it comes to his posts on social media, tweeted on Friday that Bitcoin “is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash.” He also suggested that fiat currency (government-issued currency) has “negative real interest” and that it would be foolish not to look elsewhere. Tweeting in response to a Bloomberg TV interview, Musk said that having some Bitcoin is “adventurous enough” for an S&P500 company.
Musk’s tweet came in response to a Bloomberg TV interview with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform by volume. During the interview, Zhao called out Musk’s advocacy for Dogecoin. However, Zhao also pointed out that Musk’s Tesla invested $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 10,880 crore) in Bitcoin and not Dogecoin.
Responding to this, Musk defended Tesla’s move by tweeting, “Tesla’s action is not directly reflective of my opinion. Having some Bitcoin, which is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P500 company.”
Tesla’s action is not directly reflective of my opinion. Having some Bitcoin, which is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P500 company.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2021
In the comments on his post, Musk wrote that he is an engineer and not an investor. He clarified that he doesn’t own any other publicly traded stock besides Tesla. “However, when fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere,” Musk wrote. “Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is ‘almost’.”
Earlier this month, Tesla announced a $1.5-billion investment in Bitcoin and said that it would accept the cryptocurrency from customers who purchase its electric cars. Only the week before, Musk briefly changed his Twitter bio to simply read “#bitcoin.”
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