Elon Musk triggers Bitcoin price surge after claim Tesla has 'diamond hands'

Over the last week, the digital currency, which had rallied to over $50,000 (£35,432.90) by the start of the month, saw its value plummet, with an eye-watering £300billion wiped out in 24 hours. Bitcoin traded at $34,925.80 (£24,723.10), its lowest since February. Over the last hour, Bitcoin has continued to soar and rose to $41,622 (£29,473.16), according to CoinDesk.

However, Mr Musk has seemingly both caused the crash and helped to restore it as Bitcoin held firm on or around the $40,000 (£28,315) mark overnight.

This comes after Mr Musk tweeted how "Tesla has [diamond hands]" using an emoji of a diamond and waving hands.

According to reports, the emojis are a reference to a meme in which holders of specific assets – such as cryptocurrencies and stocks – make clear they are holding onto them.

This tweet means Tesla does not intend to sell its stocks in cryptocurrency, helping to restore Bitcoin following its crash.

Bitcoin’s drop in value came after Mr Musk announced Tesla would temporarily not be accepting the digital currency as payment for vehicles.

He said: “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.

"Cryptocurrency is a good idea... but this cannot come at great cost to the environment."

But his latest tweet seemingly shows the Tesla CEO has lifted the temporary block of digital currency as payment.

READ MORE: Dogecoin could plunge to $0.28 as China moves to block crypto

"A lot of revenue is being derived from crypto lending, asset lending, and this is just going to grow larger, despite the dips of this week."

Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex, added: "As the financial application of the blockchain, bitcoin has emerged as an immutable and battle-tested force.

"Those drawing comfort from a sea of red today should remember that they come from a very different generation to the one that will use this technology in ways that will bring financial freedom to so many.

"Bitcoin’s steel has been sharpened in the most adversarial conditions of the open public Internet.

"Critics who celebrate what they perceive as a meltdown in crypto exhibit the very worst characteristics - coupled with schadenfreude - towards a technology that is elegant in its brilliance.

"Those who don’t and refuse to get it will be proved wrong."

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