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The price of bitcoin rose by as much as 7% on Thursday after Elon Musk posted a vague tweet with a reference to dogecoin and an image of a crypto-themed ring.
The digital asset rose by $4,000 to trade around $48,000 at 9:40 a.m. ET, after it was stuck around $43,800 the previous day.
In his tweet, Musk said: “Frodo was the underdoge, All thought he would fail, Himself most of all,” seemingly in a reference to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Dogecoin saw only a 0.8% jump to $0.07, but it’s still up 1300% year-to-date.
@elonmusk/Twitter
Its price was further boosted by positive announcements from other big corporations. Mastercard said it would open its network to some cryptocurrencies later this year and Bank of New York Mellon announced it will start transacting bitcoin for its clients.
Earlier this week, the token got its biggest endorsement after Tesla disclosed a $1.5 billion bitcoin investment. That pushed bitcoin’s price to its record high of $48,000.
“These are just the early innings of corporate adoption, as digital currencies are beginning to play a larger role in robust balance sheet management,” said Nathan Cox, chief investment officer at investment firm Two Prime.
One analyst said Tesla’s decision was a massive win for the crypto crowd and acceptance within the financial community is what it has long sought – and this move ticks both of those boxes.
“It seems that one thing more powerful than Elon Musk’s Twitter account is the financial power of the company he co-founded and leads,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. “I’m a little surprised it wasn’t enough to push $50,000 if I’m honest, but it’s surely only a matter of time. There doesn’t appear to be much appetite to sell at this point.”