Recently, new allegations from investors have come out accusing Elon Musk of manipulating the Crypto Market. Musk has fought back with the reasoning that the sudden change in perspective of the amount of energy consumption and its environmental impacts. The view between people in our community affected and their opinions. This is the second time Musk has been accused of “manipulation”, as he is semi-responsible for the recent hype of the pump and dump on GameStop.
Musk rose to claim the richest man earlier this year. He rose from being number #25- 1 in just 1 year.
Musk is regarded as one of the most successful people in the world, through his launch in co-founding a few of the world’s most sought after companies including Tesla, Paypal and SpaceX.
In the past month, Musk has been accused of “manipulating” the market of cryptocurrencies. He has contributed to the entire crypto market doubling in price (according to Forbes). Along with the allegations, Musk has been accused of a pump and dump. A pump and dump is when a person invests in a stock or market early and encourages other people to invest. Then, they take out all the money once they have at least doubled profits creating a massive crash in the market. It has been speculated that Musk is accused of pumping all the Tesla money from Bitcoin and dumping it. Musk has 50 million followers on Twitter which is his primary platform of communication. There are many of us millennials that are looking to gain quick money, and therefore as we look up to Musk as he has great support and following Tesla stock has gone down by 33% in the past month. Every time Musk tweets about any company, it soars high. It is also a very controversial topic as Musk has blamed Crypto for not being environmentally friendly due to the high energy cost, even though he is still invested in it. As investors and followers were outraged, they fired back, highlighting the negative environmental impacts of lithium mining. Musk announced earlier this week on the 13th that Tesla has stopped accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment due to environmental concerns. Researchers have also stated that electric cars are just as bad for the environment. According to the Energy Information Administration of the United States, the US has only 12% of energy from renewable energy sources in 2020. The other 88% is non-renewable, and a majority comes from burning fossil fuels. Right after these accusations on the 18th of May, Bitcoin crashed by 33%. This has created a crash in the whole crypto market, including a pull back on the stock market.
Musk stated “ I strongly believe in crypto, but it can’t drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal.” He further backed up his claims with a chart showing the spike in energy use from Bitcoin.
The high energy use contradicts Musk’s statement of Bitcoin using a lot of energy as Tesla consumes a lot of energy that is used to charge an electrical vehicle is non-renewable energy that is 75-80% efficient. This is due to the fact that a lot of energy is lost in heat. People were also outraged by Tesla’s environmental impact from lithium mining. According to the institute for energy research, lithium mining takes 100,000 gallons per metric ton of lithium, which shows that every 10 Teslas requires 10,000 gallons of water. Also, only 2% of lithium is properly recycled. as also Tesla batteries may need to be replaced due to the degradation of charging it time after time.
According to an Ark Investment Analyst, 76% percent of bitcoin miners are using renewable energy.
Interview neighbor: ocean environmentalist: Emma Vaid
“Electric cars may not be a better alternative to gas as it has many other hidden effects.”
“I believe hydrogen will become one of the better alternatives to electric cars and gas.”
Fellow student and Crypto trader Bucket Darius said,
“I have lost 5 thousand dollars of my earnings last week.”
A coin called Stop Elon was created. The coin rose 500% with the incentive of “Elon Musk encouraging people for his own profits.”
Musk’s net worth has risen seven times in the past year, analysts point out that it may be from investments and his crypto earnings. Musk suggests greener cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin, since it uses way less power per transaction compared to Bitcoin or Ethereum. His huge earnings from becoming the 24th richest last year to the richest man in the world for a little time this year could stem from his market manipulation. A tweet in January helped boost hype on the GameStop pump and dump. Following his tweet, GameStop Stock rose 150% and still remains about 25 times its value prior to manipulation.
On June 5th Elon Musk tweeted a few emoji’s
Right after his tweet the cryptocurrency skyrocketed at an increase of almost 600%. This gives more evidence of Musk Manipulating the market as this coin has no purpose or development and is used for a pump and dump. Elon most likely invested early when this coin was very cheap and got a 500-700% return on investment from taking it out after telling everyone to invest in this coin. The coin has no development or purpose to grow, so there is not a point in investing/ buying this coin.
Following the tweet, a group of people from the cryptocurrency coin and group StopElon started protests outside the Tesla Factory in Fremont. Outraged, protesters fought back against Musk, and the StopElon coin rose by 512%.
A new video came out this past week from the group Anonymous says “Musk is exploiting everyone.” “Musk only makes money on Tesla vehicles due to the huge investments and the huge government incentives it receives”. These incentives are huge money grants and discounts for people to go buy electric vehicles and Teslas. The government incentives give Tesla a huge advantage. Anonymous also showed the dark sides of Musk as of the use of child labour in Cobalt mines in South Africa.
Chronic exposure of Cobalt hard metal dust or fumes results in a serious lung disease in a form of pneumoconiosis. Pneumoconiosis creates decreased lung efficiency, asthma, decreased pulmonary function and shortness of breath. There is also a lack of Personal Protective Equipment, which creates a harsh and inhumane workplace. The children have not been in school and have to work in the harsh conditions.
“Elon Musk has created an opportunity for many people to earn money, but also his manipulation has made a lot of people also suffer losses.” Bucket Darius
Cover Image: Quoteinspector.com
8forty.ca 
0 comments on “Elon Musk Accused of Manipulating the Crypto Market”