Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX—who recently became the world's richest person—has a famously complex and intriguing relationship with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Over the years, Musk has repeatedly engaged with the crypto space.
He has endorsed digital assets on several occasions and, through his recent Twitter activity, significantly moved the needle on Dogecoin and BTC prices. Some have even speculated—mind blown—that the billionaire might be Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's anonymous creator.
Most notably, on February 8, Tesla revealed in an SEC filing that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, cementing the billionaire's bullish stance on digital assets.
This article compiles key moments that link Elon Musk to Bitcoin, tracing the evolution of his relationship with crypto technology.
Elon Musk Calls Bitcoin "a Good Thing," But Says It's Mainly Used for Illegal Transactions
Elon Musk's public commentary on Bitcoin began in October 2014. During an interview at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit, the billionaire called Bitcoin "a good thing."
When prompted by host Walter Isaacson, Musk added that he believed Bitcoin was primarily used for illegal transactions.
"I think Bitcoin is probably a good thing. I think it’s mainly going to be used for illegal transactions. But that’s not necessarily all bad. You know, some things probably shouldn’t be illegal," he said.
He also revealed he did not own any BTC at the time, but noted that the cryptocurrency "would be useful for both legal and illegal transactions."
Musk Discloses His BTC Holdings and Denies Being Satoshi Nakamoto
In November 2017, Sahil Gupta—a former SpaceX intern—claimed that Musk was likely Bitcoin's anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Gupta's theory hinged on Musk's "deep understanding of economics and cryptography" and his technical expertise.
Musk later denied the claim, calling it "not true." In the same tweet, he also disclosed that he owned only a tiny amount of BTC, which friends had sent him years earlier.
Twitter Hacks and Fake Elon Musk Crypto Scams
Thanks to his high-profile crypto interactions, Elon Musk has long been a prime target for cryptocurrency scammers.
Between 2017 and 2019 especially, cybercriminals repeatedly impersonated him to lure victims into fraudulent digital asset schemes.
In November 2018, hackers took over verified Twitter accounts, posed as Musk, and collected nearly $170,000 through fake giveaway scams.
A similar incident occurred in July 2020. This time, it was Musk's own Twitter account that was compromised, with fraudsters using his platform to promote fake giveaways and investment opportunities.
Musk Calls Bitcoin's Structure "Elegant" and Praises Ethereum
In a February 2019 interview on the ARK Invest podcast, Musk described Bitcoin's architecture as "quite elegant." He called crypto "a better way of transferring value than paper money" and stated that "paper money is disappearing."
Beyond Bitcoin, Musk added, "Ethereum has some advantages, and maybe some other coins do too."
However, the SpaceX CEO also pointed out crypto's energy intensity, calling it "one of the drawbacks of crypto."
Dive deeper into Bitcoin and sustainable energy.
Dogecoin Takes Off
Beyond Bitcoin, Elon Musk has also been a vocal supporter of Dogecoin, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency.
In April 2019, the Dogecoin project ran a Twitter poll to let users "elect" a new CEO.
Up against candidates like Litecoin founder Charlie Lee, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and Metal Pay CEO Marshall Hayner, Elon Musk won by a landslide, securing over 54% of the vote.
Responding to the poll, the newly "elected" Dogecoin CEO tweeted that the meme coin "might be" his favorite cryptocurrency.
His support didn't stop there. In March 2020, he tweeted that Doge "has the best coin." Then in July, he posted an image captioned "This is inevitable," depicting a "Dogecoin standard" dominating the global financial system. The tweet sent Dogecoin's price up 14% that day.
A similar scenario played out on December 20. After Musk tweeted "One word: Doge" and updated his bio to "Former CEO of Dogecoin," the price jumped 25%.
The Dogecoin hype even drew in other celebrities. Rapper Snoop Dogg joined the fun, posting a parody album cover titled "Snoop Doge."
Musk Adds "#Bitcoin" to Twitter Bio, Throws Weight Behind BTC
On January 29, Elon Musk changed his Twitter bio to simply "#Bitcoin." He later tweeted, "In retrospect, this was inevitable."
The move sparked a 20% surge in Bitcoin's price that day, though it later pulled back from around $38,000 to nearly $33,000 by January 30.
A few days later on the social audio app Clubhouse, Musk called Bitcoin "a good thing," but conceded he was "late to the party," joking that he should have bought BTC eight years earlier.
Interestingly, the billionaire admitted that his Dogecoin tweets were mostly in jest, and that aside from Bitcoin, he doesn't have strong opinions on other cryptocurrencies.
Tesla Invests $1.5B in BTC, Plans to Accept Bitcoin Payments
Perhaps Musk's most significant Bitcoin moment came on February 8. Tesla, the electric vehicle giant he leads, filed a document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealing it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.
With this move, Tesla became the second-largest publicly traded corporate holder of BTC, behind only business intelligence firm MicroStrategy.
In the SEC filing, the automaker stated the Bitcoin purchase was part of a strategy to "allow greater flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash."
Beyond the $1.5 billion investment, Tesla also announced it would start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its products "on a limited basis initially," where permitted by law.
Following the company's announcement, Bitcoin surged, jumping from $39,200 to $44,300 in just 40 minutes. It continued its rally the next day, reaching $48,200.