Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been criticized for wielding what many perceive to be irresponsible influence over the cryptocurrency market. Musk regularly took to Twitter to post memes and hot takes on various cryptocurrencies throughout most of 2021, not least Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE). Musk soon added another coin to that list — CumRocket (CUMMIES). CumRocket is described as a “revolutionary deflationary token” aimed to be used by those in the adult film industry. On Friday, Musk posted a cryptic tweet with three words listed: Canada, USA, Mexico. Observers interpreted this as Musk cheekily writing the word “CUM,” and …

Elon Musk’s tendency to sway the crypto space with devil-may-care tweets was on display again on Friday, as numerous coins lost between 10–18% in the wake of Musk’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) meme. The Tesla CEO’s tweet which showed a Bitcoin sign next to a broken heart emoji could have been interpreted as fairly cryptic, but within minutes the crypto market responded by plunging into a sea of red, as close to $100 billion departed the global market cap. Industry executives, while concerned with the influence Musk exerts on the crypto space, are now growing hopeful that Bitcoin can escape his …

Dogecoin (DOGE) prices jumped by nearly 40% on a 24-hour adjusted timeframe on Wednesday, shaking out more than $16 million worth of bearish leverage in just one hour while almost reclaiming its pre-crash high. Leveraged bearish traders caught themselves on the wrong side of trading after Coinbase Pro, a United States-based crypto trading platform, announced that it would enable DOGE trading to its portal from Thursday. “Starting immediately, we will begin accepting inbound transfers of DOGE to Coinbase Pro,” Coinbase confirmed in its blog post. “Once sufficient supply of DOGE is established on the platform, trading on our DOGE-USD, DOGE-BTC, …

The transaction fees of Bitcoin and Ethereum have slumped to six-month lows as the markets cool after the recent crypto downturn. According to BitInfoCharts, the average price of performing a transaction using Bitcoin has fallen from an early-April all-time high of $62.77 to around $7.20 — an 88% drop over just six weeks. The falling Bitcoin transaction fees appear to have been driven by a decline in overall market activity, with daily volumes evaporating from more than $67 billion on May 10 to $30 billion as of this writing, according to CoinGecko. The meteoric 2021 crypto bull run has seen …

The amount of Bitcoin (BTC) held by whales increased by around 14% after Tesla announced its foray into the cryptocurrency sector in early February 2021. The latest data from on-chain analytics platform Glassnode shows an inflow of roughly $19.5 billion worth of Bitcoin — according to current exchange rates — into wallets that hold at least 100 BTC and a maximum of 1,000 BTC. The deposits spiked right after Tesla revealed in its January securities filings that it had added $1.5 billion worth of BTC to its balance sheet. The news hit the wire on Feb. 8 when the cost …

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reminded Twitter followers on Tuesday that despite the recent interest he’s taken in Dogecoin (DOGE), he still has no formal authority over the project. Musk was replying to a comment from a Doge-themed account, which opined that he had taken to operating Dogecoin like one of his own companies and that he’d effectively become the project’s CEO. The comment framed Musk’s influence as something to be celebrated, but the self-proclaimed “Dogefather” issued a reminder that he actually isn’t the boss and that no one really answers to him. Please note Dogecoin has no formal organization & …

MicroStrategy CEO, Michael Saylor has explained the details and thinking behind the formation of the Bitcoin Mining Council. The council was formed on May 25 after Saylor brokered a successful meeting between Elon Musk and several top North American Bitcoin mining firms. The miners involved will provide current and planned renewable usage transparency, and will lobby other mining operations across the globe to do so as well Michael Saylor describing the formation of the Bitcoin Mining Council and @ElonMusk's shared interest in seeing #Bitcoin succeed: pic.twitter.com/7MfODadi8p — Documenting Bitcoin (@DocumentingBTC) May 25, 2021 Speaking at the virtual Consensus 2021 conference, …

Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches a course on “Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.” These past few weeks have been tumultuous, especially for newbies to the crypto market. First, on May 8, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, was the host of Saturday Night Live where he promoted Dogecoin (DOGE) — a highly speculative, volatile cryptocurrency with present …

Elon Musk captured the world’s attention when he declared that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a payment method, citing the blockchain’s environmental impact. Although this thrust the debate about cryptocurrencies and the climate into the spotlight, this has been an issue that has been rumbling on for many years. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism is exceedingly energy intensive, and it seems to be a problem that’s only getting worse — with vast data centers established as miners vie to get their hands on a supply of new coins that has dwindled further since the 2020 halving. The latest figures …

The fallout from this month’s violent crypto market meltdown appears to have flowed into the stock markets, with publicly listed firms with exposure to crypto assets seeing significant losses during May. The month saw Bitcoin (BTC) and other leading cryptocurrencies crash by at least 50%, with BTC plummeting from roughly $60,000 on May 10 to bounce off support at $30,000 last week. The largest publicly traded firm by number of BTC held in its reserves, MicroStrategy saw its share price slump from $657 at the end of April to roughly $450 as of May 21 — a 31.5% drawdown in …

The high-profile coin purchases by corporate entities like MicroStrategy and Tesla were credited in part with pushing up the price of Bitcoin (BTC) throughout the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. Allotting billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to their balance sheets had a knock-on effect on the stock prices of Tesla and MicroStrategy, both of which were subject to 340% and 808% pumps, respectively, from the moment their CEOs began stacking sats and posting crypto memes. But the glow afforded Tesla and MicroStrategy by their headline-grabbing Bitcoin purchases proved to be short-lived. After the share prices of …

“Proof of work is proof of burning,” is fast becoming the dominant view of Bitcoin (BTC) among those who are serious about tackling the climate crisis. The words are from a United Kingdom government representative for this year's COP26 UN climate talks, cited this week in the Financial Times. The same article indicates that climate campaigning groups — who have, until now, been slow to take a firm line against Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies — are catching up and becoming more aware of the climate risks involved. Greenpeace, which set up a facility for accepting Bitcoin donations back in 2014, is now …