Billionaire and cryptocurrency superfan Elon Musk broke his silence on the recent collapse in digital asset prices — and responded to a meme revealing the next sector of the economy he expects to plunge.
Musk reacted to the steep selloff in bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, which briefly plunged below $21,000 — its lowest level since December 2020.
“Cryptonight,” Musk tweeted Tuesday night.
Musk also replied to a meme posted by Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus.
The cartoon image showed the grim reaper approaching a door labeled “real estate” after previously making grisly stops in rooms labeled “stocks” and “cryptocurrency.”
“True,” Musk said in response to the post.
The billionaire has repeatedly touted investments in cryptocurrencies in recent years. In March, he declared that he “won’t sell” his holdings in bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin despite rising inflation and economic uncertainty that has led many investors to sell riskier asserts. The world’s richest man has never disclosed how much of his wealth is tied to crypto.
Last month, Musk jabbed at fellow billionaire Warren Buffett – a noted cryptocurrency skeptic who said he wouldn’t agree to buy “all of the bitcoin in the world” for $25.
Earlier this year, Musk revealed that Tesla had begun accepting dogecoin for transactions in its online store. SpaceX is expected to follow suit in the near future.
Tesla also spent $1.5 billion on bitcoin in February 2021 – a move the electric car marker said would provide “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.” At the time of the disclosure, the price of bitcoin was hovering in the $30,000 to $40,000 range.
Bitcoin was priced at $21,363 as of Wednesday morning – a steep downturn from its all-time high of $69,000 last November. Several firms, including Coinbase and Gemini, are conducting layoffs and other belt-tightening measures owing to the onset of “crypto winter.”
While Musk did not elaborate on his view toward the real estate sector, the housing market has recently showed signs of a slowdown following a pandemic-era boom.
As The Post reported, mortgage demand recently sank to a 22-year low as prospective buyers contend with steep prices and rising interest rates. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.28% as of this week despite hovering below 3.5% as recently as January.
Meanwhile, real estate firms Redfin and Compass each announced plans to slash hundreds of jobs on Tuesday due to increasingly difficult market conditions. Redfin said sales demand in May was 17% lower than the company anticipated.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
