The Boring Company started accepting cryptocurrencies in buying its products. Boring Company is a venture by Elon Musk that plans to solve traffic problems in the US. He recently made headlines yet again, this time around about a tweet of an anime character with a Bitcoin sign. The tweet says “Wanna buy some Bitcoin”.
Given the hints that Elon Musk is supportive of cryptocurrencies, the crypto industry went crazy after this news.
History with Bitcoin
Elon Musk is known for his history with Bitcoin. Earlier this year, he was spotted holding a book by Dr. Julian Hosp entitled “Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain & ICO & Co Simply Explained”. The book covers Bitcoin, ICOs, altcoins, and other pertinent issues in the blockchain industry.
In addition to this, Elon Musk stated that he has minimal Bitcoin holdings. He mentioned that the Bitcoin that he has are gifts. Elon Musk has been in contact with Dogecoin creator Jack Palmer to help him combat cryptocurrency scammers.
Crypto Scams on Twitterverse
For a year, Elon Musk has been targeted by crypto scammers found on Twitter. The scammers tend to impersonate personalities such as Elon Musk, Katy Perry, John McAfee, and even President Donald Trump. Using the profile photo and account name of these personalities, the Twitter scammers then ask for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies.
Musk has spoken about this scam problem in July. He tweeted that “I want to know who is running the Ethereum scambots! Mad skillz”. After which, Vitalik Buterin together with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey replied and said: “help us”.
According to a study made by cybersecurity company Duo Security, there are around 15,000 bot accounts that were able to get people to send cryptocurrencies. Though Twitter has been actively participating to crack down on these bots and even suspended 1 million fake accounts in recent months, it seems that this trend has been going on for some time.
This could be the reason why Elon Musk’s Twitter account was temporarily locked after the picture was posted. It could be a precaution to avoid the possibility of scammer running the account. The Tweet received mixed reactions. There were those who praised Musk while there are those who gave a negative comment regarding the tweet.
Musk and Controversy
Elon Musk isn’t free from controversy. In fact, when he tweeted that he plans to take Tesla Private, this caused the company’s stock to briefly rise. However, it has led to charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Though it was settled last month, part of the settlement is that the Tesla board is having “additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk’s communications”. However, the requirement only comes into effect after 90 days. And this has given Musk the freedom to use Twitter for a while.
Scams are quite rampant in today’s crypto market. From exchanges being hacked to Twitter scammers asking for cryptocurrencies, these are just some of the most common problems that the industry need to address. As for Musk, could he actually help in popularizing cryptos and improving its reputation?
