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by Buzz Staff, Yahoo News
World's richest person and Tesla chief Elon Musk sent the Bitcoin stocks flying toward the end of January with an update in his Twitter bio that simply read: "#bitcoin". And now, he has explicitly expressed his support for the cryptocurrency in a chat on social media app Clubhouse that had the Internet hooked on Monday.
Musk, a regular in moving markets and stock on Twitter, acknowledged that he was, in fact, a supporter of bitcoin.
"I am a supporter of bitcoin," Musk said.
"I was a little slow on the uptake," he said, adding he should have bought it eight years ago.
"I think bitcoin is on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people."
Several users, including media, reported a jump in Bitcoin price after Musk lent his support to the cryptocurrency.
Those who were tuned in to listen to what Musk had to say about bitcoin moved to Twitter to amplify his thoughts on the social media platform.
Earlier, Musk's Twitter bio update pushed Bitcoin to a 14% jump and was recorded trading at $37,800 at one point.
GameStop Corp, which has been at the centre of retail trading frenzy, surged 50% after Musk tweeted "Gamestonk!!", along with a link to the Reddit Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion group.
There, supporters affectionately refer to him as "Papa Musk." "Stonks" is a tongue-in-cheek term for stocks widely used on social media.
In December, Musk asked about the possibility of converting "large transactions" of Tesla's balance sheet into bitcoin, in a Twitter exchange with a well-known advocate for the digital currency.
Later in January, the tech mogul and currently the world's richest person tweeted two simple words from his Twitter account to his 42 million followers. "Use Signal."
(With Reuters inputs)
