ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Elon Musk Wouldn't Turn Down Being Paid In Bitcoin

Elon Musk Wouldn't Turn Down Being Paid In Bitcoin

He made the comment in a tweet

Amelia Ward

Amelia Ward

Elon Musk has said he'd never turn down the chance to be paid in Bitcoin again.

He made the comment when responding to a tweet by Ben Mezrich, the author behind The Accidental Billionaires (which was adapted as the film The Social Network in 2010) and Bitcoin Billionaires.

Mezrich's tweet read: "I'm never turning down getting paid in bitcoin again."

Tesla boss, and now the world's richest man, Musk replied: "Me neither."

The SpaceX founder overtook Amazon's Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world last week and as of 7 January, was worth an estimated £138 billion ($188bn). This meant he pipped Bezos to the post by a mere billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index.

Thanks to an increase in Tesla's share price, Musk pushed past Bezos.

Reacting to the news on Twitter, the billionaire entrepreneur simply responded: "How strange. Well back to work."

Earlier today (12 January), it was reported that around $200 billion (£148 billion) was struck off the world's cryptocurrency market after the value of bitcoin fell by more than 20 percent in a matter of days, causing widespread concern within the financial market.

Bitcoin prices had been on the up and up, moving up to a record high of $42,000 (£30,991) on Friday. That meant that the entire global cryptocurrency market - not just bitcoin - was worth $1.07 trillion (£790 billion).

However, as of Monday evening, that value had plummeted back down to $31,000 (£23,000) meaning that the global crypto-coin market was back down to $880 billion (£649 billion).

Not everyone is so upset about this. Obviously, those with loads of money invested in bitcoin could be happier, but quite a few financial experts have referred to this slump as a 'healthy correction' after the cryptocurrency had reached up to some seriously unsustainable levels.

Financial experts have said that the slump is 'healthy'.
PA

While crypto experts will call it an example of traditional finance fearing the unknown, the Bank of America had warned last week that the stratospheric rise of bitcoin could be 'the mother of all bubbles', drawing comparison with the tech boom of the 1990s.

Chief market analyst at AvaTrade, Naeem Aslam, told CNN that the drop was a welcome one, and 'due a long time ago'.

James Putra, the vice president of product strategy at TradeStation Crypto, continued: "It's scary when the price of bitcoin just goes straight up. This pullback was needed."

The world's most popular cryptocurrency was previously in the doldrums, with prices at a low of $3,850 (£2841) last March, before the Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the global financial picture.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Bitcoin, elon musk