Ethereum price shoots above $2k after Elon Musk reveals he personally invested in bitcoin rival

Anthony Cuthbertson
Wednesday 21 July 2021 21:29 BST
Comments

Related video: Ethereum Co-Founder Anthony Di Iorio on Shifting Away From Crypto Space

Leer en Español

The price of Ethereum (ether) has shot up after Elon Musk revealed that he personally invested in the cryptocurrency.

The technology billionaire was speaking at The ₿ Word conference on Wednesday, alongside Twitter CEO and prominent crypto advocate Jack Dorsey, with his comments pushing the bitcoin rival above $2,000.

“Bitcoin does some things well, and it’s evolving... Usability for the average person is not great but it has a lot of potential,” he said.

“On balance I support bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general.”

>> Follow all the latest crypto market updates with The Independent’s live blog

Earlier this year, the Tesla boss made headlines after announcing that his company would accept bitcoin as a form of payment for electric cars, however subsequently backtracked after citing environmental concerns about bitcoin’s network.

The cryptocurrency has since shifted more towards renewable energy sources following a major crackdown in China on bitcoin mining operations, which were largely powered by coal-fuelled power plants.

Tesla also announced a $1.5 billion investment into bitcoin in February, making it the world’s second largest corporate investor behind the software firm MicroStrategy.

A small portion of this was subsequently sold off but the majority continues to be held by Tesla despite the recent price slide.

After reaching an all-time high above $64,000 in mid April, bitcoin’s price has fallen to around half its peak value and is currently trading at just above $32,000.

Market movements have often been attributed to comments made by Mr Musk, with the price surge and crash both coinciding with Tesla’s acceptance and rejection of the cryptocurrency.


We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content.

If you are interested in trading, eToro* and Coinbase are two of the biggest exchanges operating in the UK and a good place to start.

Cryptocurrencies are a highly volatile unregulated investment product and investing in them could lead to a loss of capital. *No FSCS or Financial Ombudsman investor protection. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. *You should consider whether you understand how CFD’s work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in