Tesla CEO Elon Musk joked that “cryptocurrency is my safe word” in response to a Twitter beef over the true identity of mystery bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto.
Musk playfully made the remark after a crypto fan facetiously quipped that he’s annoyed because Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright isn’t suing him for denying that Wright is Satoshi.
Entrepreneur Craig Wright Insists He’s the Creator of Bitcoin
Wright, a computer scientist, has repeatedly claimed that he’s Nakamoto without offering verifiable proof.
Cryptocurrency is my safe word
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2019
In his latest salvo, Craig Wright sent threatening letters from his lawyers to crypto blogger Peter McCormack and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Wright accused McCormack and Buterin of defaming him when they called him “a fraud” and said he was lying when he claims he’s Satoshi.
On April 17, Wright filed a libel lawsuit against McCormack, seeking damages of $130,000.
Computer scientist Craig Wright insists he's the creator of bitcoin and can prove it in court.
Wright says the industry wants to silence him bc he calls out bitcoin as a fraud and champions Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) as the true bitcoin. https://t.co/1aDyWcFcCy
— Samantha Chang (@samantha_chang) April 18, 2019
Nakamoto’s true identity has never been confirmed, but Craig Wright made headlines in 2015 when he claimed he was Satoshi.
He has since repeated this assertion. Wright has never proven those claims, and most crypto people don’t believe him.
In 2017, Rumors Started That Elon Musk Was Satoshi Nakamoto
In 2017, rumors erupted that Elon Musk was Satoshi Nakamoto after a former SpaceX intern wrote in a blog post that “Satoshi is probably Elon.”
“Elon is a self-taught polymath,” Sahil Gupta wrote. “He’s repeatedly innovated across fields by reading books on a subject and applying the knowledge.”
He continued: “It’s how he built rockets, invented the Hyperloop (which he released to the world as a paper), and could have invented Bitcoin.”
Musk Is Not a Bitcoin Superfan
Elon Musk denied that he’s Satoshi and revealed that he’s not a big fan of bitcoin, despite being a technophile.
“I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from 0.25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago,” Musk confessed on Twitter in February 2018.
In February 2019, Musk warmed up a bit and remarked that bitcoin’s structure “is quite brilliant.”
Not sure. I let @jack know, but it’s still going. I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from .25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2018
Musk Is Feuding With Securities and Exchange Commission
Recently, Musk has generated countless headlines for his ongoing feud with the SEC.
That matter is still unresolved, but Musk says he’s confident that he and the SEC will work out their differences soon.
Meanwhile, Elon has a sense of humor about his Twitter usage.
“I was always crazy on Twitter fyi,” he joked.
I was always crazy on Twitter fyi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2019
Hedge Fund Billionaire Lost Big By Betting Against Tesla
Separately, hedge fund billionaire David Einhorn slammed Musk last week and gloated that Tesla is on the cusp of collapse.
“(Tesla’s) poor reputation for quality and service and diminishing tax incentives are limiting broader demand,” Einhorn wrote an investor letter. “We believe that right here, right now, the company appears to again be on the brink.”
Einhorn has been shorting Tesla stock for several years. That strategy cost him millions in 2018, when his investment firm posted its worst performance in its 23-year history.
So, the moral of the story seems to be that betting against Elon Musk is a losing proposition.
Hedge fund billionaire David Einhorn savages Elon Musk in blistering investor letter. Einhorn, who's shorting $TSLA, gloats that Tesla is "on the brink of failure."
Musk is getting the last laugh: Einhorn had his worst year in 2018 b/c he shorted Tesla.https://t.co/LVft5Qi5T4
— Samantha Chang (@samantha_chang) April 14, 2019
Musk fans agree that you should never count the mercurial businessman out.
Musk gets the last laugh cause he knows he will win whole others will lose. Go Elon Musk!! pic.twitter.com/EZEk81dbEP
— Ex Dem🇯🇵🇺🇸🇮🇱🇧🇷MSM SUCKS Trump2020 (@strwar) April 14, 2019
Related: Tesla Dumps 4 Board Members Amid Elon Musk’s SEC Feud
