Musk creates ‘hype’ with ‘pump and dump’ Bitcoin comments: Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort, the former stockbroker and subject of the 2013 hit “The Wolf of Wall Street”, weighed in on Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Bitcoin commentary, where he said, “I could pump, but I don’t. not empty, “arguing that even though he may not need it, other people are pumping and throwing around the” hype “created by the celebrity.

“I love Elon Musk and I think he’s pretty rich he doesn’t have to make a few extra bucks pumping and throwing,” said Belfort, who spent 22 months in jail after pleading guilty to securities fraud and money laundering charges. “Varney & Cie.” Thursday.

“I think the problem is, even if he doesn’t pump and empty, people are using his approval and they are pumping and dumping around the hype that Elon created.”

Belfort made the comment a day after Musk said the “three significant assets” that he personally owns in addition to his two companies are Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum.

“If the price of bitcoin goes down, I lose money,” Musk said during a website discussion for a “Bitcoin-focused initiative” called “The B Word” on Tuesday, with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Bois. “I could pump but I am not emptying.”

He also said that Tesla and SpaceX own bitcoins during the cryptocurrency-themed discussion, which was hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation, which promotes itself as “a global alliance of industry leaders from crypto “.

The price of ethereum surpassed $ 2,000 when the billionaire was announced on Tuesday, according to data from Coindesk. Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ripple, Cardano and most other cryptocurrencies were also up on Tuesday following Musk’s comments.

When asked why he was such a big fan of Dogecoin – a cryptocurrency based on a popular meme as a joke in 2013 – Musk said he loves dogs, memes and the fact that Dogecoin “doesn’t don’t take yourself too seriously “. He later explained that he believed that some of the more unlikely investments ended up turning out to be the most profitable.

In April of this year, Dogecoin saw a price spike of over 500% due in part to Musk’s attention, making Dogecoin a household name – to crypto investors, at least.

Belfort cited Dogecoin as an example of where Musk was “probably used inadvertently” to pump and dump cryptocurrency.

Critics have accused Musk of manipulating the market through his praise and criticism of Bitcoin, as well as his unwavering support for Dogecoin, which started out as a joke but has since gained immense popularity.

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TSLA	TESLA, INC.	649.26	-6.03	-0.92%

Tesla announced in February that it was acquiring $ 1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency and would accept it as a form of payment. In May, Musk then reversed his decision, saying crypto’s energy use was a threat to climate change and that the automaker would no longer accept it as a form of payment.

However, at Wednesday’s conference, Musk said Tesla would most likely resume accepting bitcoin as payment once he investigates the amount of renewable energy used to mine digital currency, Reuters reported.

Also in May, the China Banking Association warned members about the risks associated with digital currencies.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell this month, with the group’s largest market value falling to $ 30,000 from its record high of $ 64,000 earlier this year.

CRYPTO NEEDS REGULATIONS, BUT IT DOESN’T NEED NEW RULES

Bitcoin was trading at around $ 32,400 on Thursday afternoon, after the most popular cryptocurrency fell below $ 30,000 two days earlier for the first time in a month.

Belfort told host Stuart Varney on Thursday that he was also a cryptocurrency investor and was “here for the long haul.” He noted that some of his posts include investments in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

He also noted that he “would not put in more than I could afford to lose.”

Belfort said he hoped the price of bitcoin would drop again because he “would buy more if he fell further.”

“I would like it to go down because I’m a long term investor, so I don’t care if it goes up or down in the short term,” he told Varney.

“I would love it to come back to 5,000 [BTC] and buy a ton of it there and that would be a good thing. “

He added that it was “very dangerous” for those “trading bitcoin short term”, especially since cryptocurrency can be “volatile”.

“Anyone who says he knows where it’s going next is lying,” Belfort said. “Nobody knows where it’s going next.”

He pointed out that the price of bitcoin is “sensitive to things like Elon Musk’s statements, things that are happening in China. [and] other parts of the world. ”

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still not regulated within the US financial system. The euphoria surrounding cryptocurrencies earlier this year was impacted by growing regulatory discussions around the world, which weighed on the price of bitcoin.

Belfort admitted to having always been “afraid of Bitcoin” because of all the uncertainty surrounding the cryptocurrency.

“For now, who knows what the United States is going to say with taxes, with regulations, is it a security, isn’t it and these are huge risks,” Belfort continued.

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“It’s still a nascent market until it really finds a foothold,” noted Belfort, adding that once cryptocurrencies are regulated “and sovereign risk is better known,” analysts will be able to “begin to predict it in a much more systematic way”.

He went on to point out that he thought the industry was “quite advanced now, that I think the chances are much better than not that they will stay with us and that they are not trying to regulate it outside of the business”.

He went on to point out that he believed that what was holding the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies together was all the “regulatory uncertainty.”

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Audrey Conklin of FOX Business contributed to this report.