| When Elon Musk recently tweeted that he was helping the developers behind Dogecoin improve the meme-based cryptocurrency, the effect was predictable: It sent Doge to the moon. But Michi Lumin, a Doge developer, was a little unsettled by the news. It was just one of many tweets Musk had dropped over the past few weeks, and each one had sent the price flying. Things were getting weird. "We're not Eloncoin," he told me. Except, that is, whenever Elon tweets. That moniker is not specific to Dogecoin. Musk's tweets have shown a similar ability to boost and bust other cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin. Perhaps it's strategic, or just whimsy, or maybe it's a kind of performance art to inspire us all to wonder at the value of things. We might never know Musk's true motives. But in the process, the Tesla CEO is teaching us a few things about crypto. Recently, one of the dominant narratives in cryptocurrencies has been that so-called "institutional" investors are getting into the game—investors like banks and corporations such as Tesla. This has pushed up the value of the coins, and also inspired a lot of regular people to invest too, because banks and corporations are seen as smart and stable investors to mimic.
But Musk is showing that the reality is much more fickle. Cryptocurrencies are still in their awkward, gangly teenager phase—easily influenced and bullied. Here's how his Twitter shenanigans have exposed real weaknesses in the crypto market. Gregory Barber | Staff Writer, WIRED | 
Post a Comment