Legal advisers have warned that Tesla CEO Elon Musk could be scrutinized by the US Security and Exchange Commission over its social media activity around Bitcoin.
On Monday, February 8, Tesla announced in an SEC submission that it had bought Bitcoin’s value of $ 1.5 billion and would soon accept BTC payments. Shortly thereafter, asset prices soared to a new high of just over $ 48,000.
Partner at Linklaters and former branch chief of the SEC’s enforcement department, Doug Davison, told the British Telegraph newspaper:
“It would not be surprising – given the focus on CEO tweets, Bitcoin prices and recent dramatic market movements – that the SEC should ask questions about the facts and circumstances here,”
Former Vice President of the European Central Bank, Vitor Constâncio, confirms the sentiment and concludes that the “SEC will look into this”
It was not disclosed when Tesla made this investment. In December, Musk said that Tesla could buy bitcoin, and this was followed by many statements that he supported bitcoin. Bitcoin persisted and appreciated the Tesla investment. The SEC will issue this 5 /
– Vitor Constâncio (@VMRConstancio) 8 February 2021
The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have the ability to investigate if they suspect market manipulation.
Musk has already voiced Bitcoin and DOGE on a number of occasions on Twitter, which has contributed to Bitcoin activity on the social media platform rising to the highest levels. DOGE rose to new highs of all time after Musk’s endorsement.
There is little doubt that Tesla’s public invasion of Bitcoin, and Musk’s influential tweets on its 46.5 million followers, contributed to this latest price increase.
He is still working on Dogecoin with the recent tweet late on February 10 in which he says he is buying the asset. DOGE rose 13% following the specific tweet a few hours ago.
Bought Dogecoin for lil X so he can be a toddler
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 10 February 2021
Musk is no stranger to Twitter controversy; he was earlier accused of posting incorrect information on the platform regarding Covid-19 and the closure of one of its factories.
In another incident, he suggested that the Tesla share price was too high, which resulted in a subsequent price reduction. The SEC sued Musk for fraud and charged the Tesla chief with ‘false and misleading tweets’, but he settled with the regulator shortly afterwards.