SEC wouldn't allow this with the stock market, how is this any different? His actions were intentional by the way it is obvious he is manipulating the market intentionally.
Hurting the market is no different from hurting investors because bad practices that hurt one investor have a chilling effect on other investors' activity. Moreover, regulators don't have to clear a "does this hurt the whole market" test before taking action. For example, I know a guy who was running a business at an investment bank and got in trouble with FINRA for trading through NBBO on a very small order (retail sized).
The crypto market has grown to a size and role that affects the greater economy. We see that in so many ways, not only due to the holdings but also because different economic participants are catering to miners and setting up payment options for holders of crypto. It's no longer a cute side project.
While you could make plenty of argument that the SEC should do more, it doesn't make any sense that it should do less.
Lots of folks will lose a lot of money in cryptocurrency schemes in the next few years. We desperately need more regulation.
With people making fortunes or losing everything based on one dude's mood and a single tweet.
The SEC and other's exist because of the Robber-Baron's of old... I'm no "Regulation Hawk", but it does seem silly to allow this nonsense to continue.
Buying and selling gold is highly regulated. What makes you think crypto shouldn't be similarly regulated, even if it's only to ensure that taxes get paid and exploitative schemes get busted?
Surely you can recognize the benefits of government regulations in lopsided markets where small participants lack either the power or the information needed to keep large participants honest.
> My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Liam Denning points out that “Musk’s move may also indicate that Teslas weren’t flying off the shelves as a result of accepting Bitcoin payment,” and in fact it’s not entirely clear whether Tesla has sold any cars for Bitcoins.[2] I hope it hasn’t. I hope Musk can make the price of Bitcoin go up or down by 10% by announcing that Tesla will or will not accept Bitcoins for cars, without ever actually accepting any Bitcoins for any cars either way. There’s something pure about that: The price of Bitcoin depends on Elon Musk’s attitude toward it, not on the existence of any grubby commercial transactions in which Bitcoins are exchanged for cars.[3] The source of value for Bitcoin is not its use as a currency or economic importance; the source of value for Bitcoin — for everything — is simple proximity to Elon Musk.
Money works purely on belief. If we all suddenly disbelieved in the dollar, the value would be zero.
Curiously, most cycles of hyperinflation come more from loss of faith than from money printing. When people lose faith in a currency, they sell it off as a value store.
Elon Musk's net worth is $28B. His faith in a crypocurrency as a value store counts for a lot.
Is this true? Yes.
Are you wildly underselling what "disbelieving in the dollar" means in practice? Also yes.
I believe in the dollar because the United States has the worlds largest nuclear arsenal, spends nearly a trillion dollars on its military every year – and that's only what it puts on the books – and has been proven to have an itchy fucking trigger finger.
That trust isn't going anywhere without massive global conflict.
you can disbelieve in the dollar. But you can't disbelieve in the Secret Service/US military showing up and kicking your ass
Not only that, but he has pretty dominating role in various companies whose market caps are in hundreds of billions at least.