Image Credit: marketwatch.com, britannica.com
The global cryptocurrency markets witnessed gains on Tuesday as Bitcoin’s price jumped to its highest point in 2 weeks reaching $ 40,285.66. This translates to a dominance of 266.45%, which is an increase of 221.44% as compared to the previous day. Overall, the market cap of the cryptocurrency fell 82.51% over the day to reach $284.36 billion. The volume of all the stable coins, which make up 9.47% of the global crypto market, was valued at $994.90.
The gains for Bitcoin come in the backdrop of Elon Musk indicating that his company Tesla would start accepting Bitcoins as a payment method once again, provided the crypto miners accept his conditions. Responding to the news of Sygnia’s CEO accusing him of manipulating Bitcoin’s price, Musk tweeted, “When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.” He further clarified that Tesla had only sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings “to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market”.
This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market.
When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2021
While Bitcoin’s value this year has jumped by 33% as compared to 2020, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has faced setbacks. China, where most of the mining happens, has launched a crackdown on crypto mining and trading. Musk’s U-turn on cryptocurrencies after supporting them has also hit the digital coin hard.
Musk had earlier faced flak from cryptocurrency enthusiasts when he decided to stop accepting Tesla’s payments through Bitcoin due to environmental concerns from its mining. Last month, Bitcoin prices fell to half of its peak value of $60,000.