Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest man. Shares of Musk’s company Tesla fell 8.6% on February 22, reducing their total assets by $ 15.2 billion ($ 1500 million). This was the biggest drop in Tesla shares since September last year.
According to Bloomberg’s report, Elon Musk’s comment on bitcoin is being attributed to this to some extent. Musk had said about bitcoin and its adversary ether that ‘their prices seem to be going up’.
Musk’s tweet came at a time when two weeks before that Tesla announced that the company had added $ 1.5 billion in bitcoins to its balance sheet.
Bezos again became number one
Elon Musk has reached number two in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after falling Tesla shares. Musk’s total assets have fallen from a high of $ 210 billion in January to $ 183.4 billion now.
Once again, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has achieved the top position in this index. Although Bezos’ wealth has decreased by $ 3.7 billion, he is still number one with a net worth of $ 186.3 billion.
Bezos and Musk have been replacing each other at the top position since January. This is happening due to the volatility in Tesla’s shares. At the beginning of 2021, the company’s stock climbed nearly 25 percent. However, Jeff Bezos held the top position for three consecutive years before January.
What did Elon Musk say on bitcoin?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “bitcoin prices are now looking higher.” The total market value of bitcoin crossed $ 1 trillion for the first time on 19 February. Musk has been tweeting more on cryptocurrency for some time.
Bitcoin had also recently reached a record high of $ 50,000.
Responding to Peter Schiff, who does not believe in cryptocurrency and considers investing in gold better, Musk said that “BTC and ETH seem to be high.”
Schiff argued that gold is real money and is better than both bitcoin and fiat currency. Musk said in a tweet on February 20, “The email states that you have gold, you may also have cryptocurrency.”
Tesla revealed earlier this month that it had invested $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin, leading to a surge in cryptocurrency prices. Tesla said that it would begin accepting bitcoins as a “payment” for its products in the near future.