Bitcoin Has to Overcome Elon Musk’s Comments, Says Fundstrat’s Tom Lee

Bitcoin has to evolve further from this point given the fact that it fluctuates by double-digits after most Elon Musk social media engagements, argued Fundrat’s Managing Partner – Tom Lee. He also opined that the recent price movements show there’s a little-to-no institutional impact on the market yet.

BTC Has to Outgrow Musk’s Comments

The relationship between Tesla’s CEO and the primary cryptocurrency continues to develop in 2021, with substantial effects on the latter’s price movements. After the EV-maker said it had purchased $1.5B worth of BTC, the asset skyrocketed towards new all-time highs.

In contrast, when the firm’s CEO bashed the high energy consumption used for bitcoin mining and Tesla disabled payments, BTC started tumbling.

Furthermore, even brief comments that contain only emojis affected the price with rapid swings in either direction. Yesterday was the latest example. Musk said Tesla would enable BTC payments once “there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners.”

Bitcoin is up by more than 10% since his words reached every news outlet and is closing down on $40,000 now. These developments raised concerns among crypto insiders and outsiders. As reported last week, the billionaire South African businesswoman, Magda Wierzycka, said her countryman (Musk) is manipulating the prices on purpose for his personal gains.

Thomas Lee, Fundstrat’s Head of Research, also opined on the matter, asserting that BTC should not perform the way it does after similar engagements on social media.

Just a personal observation, but the fact #crypto and #bitcoin prices respond to actions by a company or individual show this market still needs to evolve further.

– put another way, really highlights that the impact of ‘institutional investors’ is still very small https://t.co/xVwTKlBZn0

— Thomas Lee (@fundstrat) June 13, 2021

It’s worth noting that Miami’s mayor, Francis Suarez, who has outlined his support for the cryptocurrency for a while, also shared a similar view. Suarez recently said bitcoin will emerge as a legit store of value once this Musk-induced volatility “works itself out.”

Institutional Impact Still Small

Although quite a few institutions entered the BTC ecosystem in the past year or so, including MassMutual, One River Asset Management, Paul Tudor Jones, and more, Lee also believes their impact is still “very small.”

The prominent businessman Kevin O’Leary is on the same page. During a recent interview with CryptoPotato, the Shark Tank co-host noted that institutions are yet to come onboard. He believes they are waiting for all ESG issues to be resolved before purchasing substantial quantities.

Once this occurs, though, O’Leary predicted a massive price appreciation for bitcoin.