Elon Musk sparks major Shiba Inu Coin surge with tweet

The cryptocurrency market is surging and a single tweet by Elon Musk has helped push a coin along on its way “to the moon”.

Elon Musk’s tweets are watched closely by traders. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Elon Musk has yet again shown the power of a single tweet.

The Tesla CEO posted a text art image of the loveable Japanese dog Shiba Inu/joke crypto currency with a rocket ship — slang in the crypto world for “to the moon”.

The exclamation is used when cryptocurrency prices are rising off the charts.

Mr Musk’s tweet certainly sent the crypto in the right direction - it surged 21 per cent after his intervention. The price of Floki Inu also increased markedly.

(\_/)
( •_•)
/ >🚀

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2021

Mr Musk followed up with a tweet writing: “I’ve thought about and … I’m not sorry for party rockin.”

Shiba, created in 2020 by the mysterious “Ryoshi”, was originally a joke crypto based on the Doge meme.

Shiba first saw a major price spike in May this year, hitting $A0.00004938, before dropping again sharply.

BREAKING: Shiba Inu Coin $SHIB has now surged over 21% after Elon Musks Tweet. pic.twitter.com/VlB8B2fuWh

— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) October 17, 2021

Earlier this month a tweet by Elon Musk was also credited for pumping the coin.

It comes as bitcoin approaches its highest price ever. It was selling at AU$84,091.93 on Monday. In April this year it hit AU$84,879.65.

Bitcoin has had a rocky road this year, with prices plunging in May when Mr Musk announced Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as payment.

The CEO of Tesla Motors cited environmental concerns about bitcoin mining in his announcement of the change.

Elon Musk’s tweets are watched closely by traders. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Multiple crackdowns from Chinese authorities have also hurt the market.

However this week, cryptos across the board have surged after reports the US regulator will greenlight a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund.

Bloomberg reported the Securities and Exchange Commission is set to allow the first US bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading next week, a step viewed as key by crypto investors to winning over more widespread adoption among the investing public.

Bullish crypto investors are predicting a “ludicrously strong” rally through the rest of 2021, Forbes reported.

“Bitcoin, ethereum and the broader crypto market are likely to have a ludicrously strong Q4, and I predict we will see new all-time highs across the board by 2022,” Nick Spanos from Bitcoin Center NYC said.

Elon Musk’s tweets are watched closely by traders. This week his fortune soared - he is now the world’s richest person, with his net worth estimated at a massive US$230 billion. That means he’s worth more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.

He sent a sent cheeky message — a silver medal emoji — to his rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to mark the occasion.