Bitcoin news: Does Elon Musk own Bitcoin? How much does he own?

in #cryptocurrency7 years ago (edited)

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The real-life Tony Stark spearheaded the growth of online payment platforms with the development of Paypal and many are convinced this has given him the credentials to jump the bitcoin bandwagon.

But what many fans do not realise is that the billionaire’s cryptocurrency holdings amount to zero – because he has never bought any virtual tokens.

While miners across the globe were busy mining for cryptocurrencies, Mr Musk was busy mining tunnels under Los Angeles, sending cars into space and selling flame-throwers on his website.

However a recent spate of malicious Twitter scams revealed Mr Musk does in fact hold a little fortune in bitcoin, though perhaps not quite what people expect.

Earlier last February Elon Musk spoke out online after being approached about a series of spambots using his likeness to scam people out of their cryptocurrencies.

The malicious scam accounts encouraged people to depart with their tokens in exchange for bigger crypto payments by impersonating popular name such as Elon Musk, Donald Trump and others.

One person approached Mr Musk for answers about the unprecedented number of scammers, asking in a tweet "why is all the spam popping up lately?”

Mr Musk replied: “Not sure. I let @jack know, but it’s still going. I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from .25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago.”

Based on the tweet, Mr Musk confirmed that he has so far avoided the bitcoin mania save for a small gift from a friend.

By today’s (Tuesday March 6) 12.47pm prices, Mr Musk’s bitcoin holdings are only worth about $2,725.39 according to CoinDesk.

Hardly a real fortune when compared to his estimated net worth of $21billion – making him the richest rocket scientist in the world.

A large portion of Mr Musk’s value comes from his rocket company SpaceX and electric car manufacturer Tesla.

But in a move rarely seen in the world of business, Mr Musk does not take a pay check from Tesla’s earnings, instead opting not to take any payment until Tesla’s market capitalisation reaches $100billion.

Mr Musk is not the only tech billionaire who has cautiously approached the popular cryptocurrency.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates described bitcoin as “better than currency” but at the same time admitted better alternatives will emerge from the underlying blockchain technology.

Mr Gates said: “Bitcoin is exciting because it shows how cheap it can be.

“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.”


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