SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk will speak at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington, DC, United States on March 9, 2020.
Yasin Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that bitcoin prices “seem high” after the cryptocurrency soared to another record high this week.
The price of bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, hit a major milestone Friday after its market value hit more than $ 1 trillion, surprising some major funders. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, also hit record highs.
“Money is just data that can help us avoid the inconvenience of barter,” tweeted Musk, a strong proponent of digital currency. “That data, like all data, is subject to latency and errors. The system will evolve towards the one that minimizes both.”
In a subsequent post, Musk added, “That said, BTC & ETH seem like high lol,” in response to a user who said gold was better than both bitcoin and cash.
Bitcoin was trading for less than $ 54,000 a coin on Friday when it hit new levels and rose above $ 55,000 later in the session, according to Coin Metrics. The cryptocurrency traded above USD 57,000 on Saturday. The price of bitcoin has risen about 350% in the past six months.
Ethereum also hit a record $ 2,040.62 for a weekly gain of around 12%. It traded at $ 1,996 on Saturday.
The bitcoin surge was partly driven by increased adoption from major investors and companies. Bank of New York Mellon said this month it was entering space.
Tesla also converted some of its balance sheet into bitcoin earlier this year, saying it would start accepting the digital currency as payment, a move that sparked even more interest in the currency.
– CNBC’s Jesse Pound contributed reporting