Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted “Ethereum” and the crypto community flocked to the thread, including the man himself Vitalik Buterin. Source: (i) Reuters/Kyle Grillot. (ii) Flickr/TechCrunch; Edited by CCN.com
By CCN.com: Elon Musk might have the SEC breathing down his neck about Tesla, but he’s having some fun with crypto Twitter. In a one-word tweet, he single-handily drew in the entire crypto community to his thread. The Tesla CEO simply said “Ethereum.” After he let the cat out of the bag, the ETH price started moving, erasing declines that have weighing on the second-biggest cryptocurrency all day and turning them into gains, albeit briefly. Elon Musk might want to tread lightly or he’ll get the SEC after him yet again for a completely different reason this time.
jk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2019
He followed it up with “jk” but it was too late. Responses to the thread came pouring in, ranging from cheers to reminders that he’s on the SEC’s speed dial. These were some of the best.
@ SEC pic.twitter.com/IMN8n0l3yq
— Luke Martin (@VentureCoinist) April 30, 2019
https://twitter.com/HodlHold/status/1123037755234238466
Perhaps the best response, however, came from Ethereum Co-Founder himself, Vitalik Buterin, who invited Musk to an upcoming conference, Devcon:
Stop giving away free ETH! 🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2019
Elon Musk is more in tune with the nuances of crypto than he might let on, as evidenced by his response to Buterin, which was to “stop giving away free ETH.” Buterin’s Twitter account handle is “Vitalik Non-giver of Ether” to thwart any would-be imposters from attempting to contaminate his feed.
Incidentally, EthHub developer Anthony Sassano pointed out that Ethereum took off on Google Trends in the moments after Musk tweeted Ethereum.
Google search trends the moment @elonmusk tweeted about Ethereum 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/en98HJBPL4
— sassal.eth 🦇🔊 (@sassal0x) April 30, 2019
The second-biggest cryptocurrency was trading in the red today. But ETH found its way into the green soon after Musk’s Ethereum mention. The price is most recently meandering between fractional gains and losses.
It’s not the first time Musk has caused a frenzy on crypto Twitter. He recently gave a shoutout to Dogecoin. For a short while, he was even named the fake CEO of the decentralized project.
Meanwhile, by inspiring a reversal in Ethereum’s price, if only for a little while, Musk has proven both how beloved and how influential he is among crypto enthusiasts. If he were to decide to launch a Tesla coin or SpaceX coin, demand would likely be through the roof. For someone who has been shunned by much of Wall Street, the warm welcome from crypto must be a welcome sight. Otherwise, the tech billionaire wouldn’t keep nudging the community on.
Gerelyn is Assistant Editor at CCN. Based in the U.S., she has also covered institutional investing on Wall Street but caught the bitcoin bug soon after. She resides 13 miles outside of New York, close enough but also far enough away to escape it all. Follow her on Twitter or email [email protected]