Lawyers warn Elon Musk’s Bitcoin-pumping tweets could draw SEC wrath



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Legal advisers have warned that Tesla chief executive Elon Musk could come under close scrutiny by the U.S. Security and Trading Commission for his social media activity around Bitcoin.

On Monday, February 8, Tesla announced in an SEC filing that it had purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and would soon begin accepting BTC payments. Shortly thereafter, asset prices shot up to a new all-time high of just over $ 48,000.

Linklaters partner and former head of the SEC’s SEC enforcement division Doug Davison told UK newspaper Telegraph:

“It wouldn’t be surprising – given the focus on CEO Tweets, Bitcoin prices and recent dramatic market movements – for the SEC to ask questions about the facts and circumstances here.”

Former European Central Bank vice-president Vitor Constâncio echoed the sentiment, concluding that “the SEC will look into this matter.”

The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have the ability to investigate if they suspect market manipulation.

Musk has been very vocal on Twitter in Bitcoin and DOGE shilling on numerous occasions which has helped Bitcoin activity on the social media platform to an all-time high. DOGE hit new all-time highs after Musk’s approval.

There is no doubt that Tesla’s public foray into Bitcoin and Musk’s influential tweets to his 46.5 million subscribers have contributed to this latest price spike.

He is still shilling Dogecoin with this recent tweet late February 10 stating he is buying the asset. DOGE is up 13% as a result of that particular tweet a few hours ago.

Musk is no stranger to controversy on Twitter; he was previously accused of posting false information on the platform regarding Covid-19 and the closure of one of its factories.

In another incident, he suggested that the Tesla share price was too high, resulting in subsequent price declines. The SEC sued Musk for fraud, accusing the Tesla chief of making “false and misleading tweets,” but he settled with the regulator soon after.



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