Home
Markets

Bitcoin surges as Elon Musk changes his Twitter bio to #bitcoin

Last Updated: Jan. 29, 2021 at 7:40 a.m. ET First Published: Jan. 29, 2021 at 6:33 a.m. ET

By

Callum Keown

Comments

The Tesla chief executive said ‘in retrospect, it was inevitable’

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared to support bitcoin on Twitter on Friday
Pool/Getty Images

Email icon
Facebook icon
Twitter icon
Linkedin icon
Flipboard icon

Print icon
Resize icon

BTCUSD

TSLA

TWTR

GME

Bitcoin surged early on Friday after Elon Musk tagged the cryptocurrency in his Twitter biography.

The price of bitcoin BTCUSD, +12.30% was last up 12.3% at $37,351, according to CoinDesk prices, after the Tesla TSLA, -3.32% chief executive appeared to express support for the cryptocurrency. After changing his Twitter TWTR, +7.01% bio to #bitcoin, he then tweeted “In retrospect, it was inevitable.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey — a vocal supporter of bitcoin — had the same bio as Musk early on Friday but it’s unclear when the platform’s founder made the change.

Earlier this week, Musk waded into the battle between short sellers and retail traders over videogames retailer GameStop GME, -44.29%, tweeting a link to Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum along with the word “Gamestonk!!”

Barron's: The GameStop Squeeze Is Running Out of Steam. This Is How We Know.

Small-cap stocks with high short interest, which were being dragged higher along with the videogame retailer, aren’t rising anymore.

Callum Keown

Callum Keown is a Barron's Group reporter for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. He writes for MarketWatch, Barron’s, Penta and Financial News. Follow him on Twitter: @CallumKeown1.