A one-word tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk shows the power of social media. Shortly after Musk tweeted the word “Ethereum”, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, Google Trends revealed a spike in Ethereum searches.
Ethereum
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2019
Google Trends Worldwide Searches for Ethereum
Musk has 26.2 million followers.
He quickly followed up his tweet with two letters: “jk”.
jk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2019
Ethereum’s price was no joke. Shortly after the tweet, the price started to move.
Lol good shit Elon 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/WUe5ETXXqU
— Chris Ragotero (@CuteBoyQ) April 30, 2019
It climbed to $158.04, erasing some of the day’s losses, before dipping back down to $157.07 at time of writing.
Ethereum 1-Day Chart
Justin Sun, CEO of Tron, an Ethereum competitor, chimed in with his own tweet.
TRON
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) April 30, 2019
Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, extended an invite to Musk to an upcoming developer’s conference in October.
Stop giving away free ETH! 🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2019
On Friday, Musk reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his use of Twitter, social media, press releases and the company website. According to the agreement filed with Manhattan federal court, Musk’s communications with respect to Tesla, upcoming mergers, and a list of topics related to the company, now have to be approved by a securities lawyer prior to posting.
The agreement with the SEC follows a controversial tweet Musk made last year when he announced on Twitter his intentions to take Tesla private at $420 per share.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
The SEC, however, cried foul and filed a complaint against Musk, alleging that he misled shareholders and that he wasn’t as close to acquiring such funding as he’d indicated. The fraud charges caused Tesla’s price to plummet.
Friday’s agreement with the SEC indicates that Musk is completely free to tweet about Ethereum, Dogecoin, Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies. They’re not on the SEC’s list of topics requiring pre-approval.
