Ethereum price rises after Elon Musk confirms he owns the cryptocurrency

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The price of ethereum rose Wednesday afternoon after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he owns the cryptocurrency at The B Word conference, an event hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation.

Ethereum, which was already rallying on the day, touched its high of the session after Musk’s mention. It was last up more than 12% and near the highs of the day.

Musk also repeated his support for cryptocurrency in general, despite potential environmental risks, saying, “One thing you do need to watch out for with crypto, especially bitcoin, using proof of work, using energy that’s a bit too much and not necessarily good for the environment.”

As bitcoin mining is increasingly powered by renewable energy, Musk said, Tesla will likely move to accept bitcoin for transactions once again.

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Holds Bitcoin at ‘B Word’ Conference

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Elon Musk’s love-hate affair with various cryptocurrency communities continues apace as he shared more details about his and his companies’ holdings at The B Word, a conference held Wednesday.

One of his privately held ventures, aerospace company SpaceX, holds BTC, Musk said. SpaceX’s bitcoin holdings had not been previously disclosed.

The entrepreneur and provocateur said he personally owns bitcoin, ether and, naturally, dogecoin.

Related: Coinbase Commerce Adds Support for Dogecoin Payments

Publicly traded automaker Tesla, whose BTC bags were revealed in February, still holds the asset in its treasury, the CEO said.

The bitcoin price jumped Wednesday by the most since mid-June. At one point, the largest cryptocurrency was changing hands around $32,800, up more than 10% over the past 24 hours, but later pared those gains to about 6%.

According to Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan, bitcoin’s price rise earlier on Wednesday was partly on anticipation of the event.

“As we await what promises to be the greatest-ever bitcoin livestream, it’s clear that the market is already very excited,” Greenspan wrote in his daily newsletter. At its peak, Dogecoin was up 19% on Wednesday to about 20 cents.

Related: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Climbs as Elon Musk Tames Shorts

On Tesla accepting bitcoin for car payments again, Musk said the network’s energy usage is improving and Tesla is doing some more due diligence on this, but that Tesla would “most likely” resume accepting BTC for payments. The price of bitcoin fell sharply after Musk first announced in May that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as payment for its products because of concerns over the amount of energy used to mine it.

Musk also asked fellow conference participant Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, whether he would consider accepting bitcoin as payment from Twitter’s advertisers as a way to support the cryptocurrency.

Dorsey replied that he agreed with the concept but that he was more focused on creating “economic incentives in the network itself without having to rely on advertising.”

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When Musk pressed him for an answer of whether he would actually allow advertisers to pay with bitcoin; however, Dorsey laughed and stopped short of committing to do it right away.

And on the subject of his favorite crypto dogecoin, about which he often tweets, Musk said he likes that the DOGE community is very irreverent and “has great memes and loves dogs, and I love dogs and memes.”

“The most ironic and entertaining outcome would be the the cryptocurrency that was started as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies ends up being the leading cryptocurrency,” Musk said, chuckling.

Dogecoin pared its gains later in the day and was up approximately 10% to just under 19 cents over the last 24 hours.

UPDATE (July 21, 20:04 UTC): This story was updated to reflect additional comments from Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, as well as comments from Musk about dogecoin.

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The B Word: What time is the huge Bitcoin conference today? Is Elon Musk speaking?

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The B Word: What time is the huge Bitcoin conference today? Is Elon Musk speaking? (Images: Getty Images)

Cryptocurrency investors, fans and market analysts are all currently paying close attention to the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, right now as expectations for its soaring success are met with continued challenges for the crypto market.

Regulators and states worldwide have begun to stir following the coin’s rapid acceleration to values of over $60,000 earlier this year, as Bitcoin miners and crypto traders across the globe are now seeing tougher action from China and Europe – who just yesterday laid out plans to ban anonymous cryptocurrency transactions in the wake of the Chinese government’s clampdown on huge mining networks in the region.

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But while Monday’s second dip below the $30,000 price threshold in value showed the crypto market continuing to be shaken by the resurgence of regulatory action and fears around spiking coronavirus cases, many Bitcoin investors still cite the coin’s monumental growth as a sign of positive things to come for the currency.

Hopes for a rebound in Bitcoin value this week following the recent dip and the potential shake-out of more fearful, new investors in the cryptocurrency come as The B Word – a conference mulling over the prospects and future of Bitcoin – kicks off this afternoon.

Here’s what you need to know about the start times of The B Word, how to watch and the speakers set to feature.

What time does The B Word start today?

Hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation and fellow partners, the event penned as “[helping] to demystify and destigmatize narratives about Bitcoin, explain how institutions can embrace it, and raise awareness around areas of the network that need support” will start at 12pm Eastern Time in the US, which equates to 5pm here in the UK.

The conference is set to last for several hours, with the launch of The B Word as an organisation encouraging institutions to embrace Bitcoin also being co-hosted by ARK Invest, payment company Square, Inc, and crypto-investment firm, Paradigm.

The first event, entitled ‘Demystifying Bitcoin’, will kick off at this time – with more events and discussions on taking place from 5pm GMT onwards.

Who is speaking at the Bitcoin conference?

Several panel discussions feature as part of The B Word today, with a range of talks and speakers exploring current and future challenges to institutional recognition and embracement of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies.

But without a doubt, the most eagerly anticipated talk of the day will take place at 7pm GMT (2pm EDT/11am PDT), when Twitter and Square, Inc founder Jack Dorsey will take to the stage with Tesla billionaire and Bitcoin-sceptic Elon Musk for a discussion on ‘Bitcoin As A Tool For Economic Empowerment’.

The duo are regularly seen exchanging jokes and blows over their preferred cryptocurrencies on Twitter.

Unsurprisingly, the discussion featuring ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood and moderated by Steve Lee is penned as one ‘where nothing is off limits!’ according to the event organisers, with crypto fans, investors and analysts poised for the prices of coins like Bitcoin and Dogecoin to fluctuate as Elon Musk takes to the virtual stage.

Musk is known for being able to sway the value of coins with any controversial statements or dismissals of the major cryptocurrency beloved by Jack Dorsey, with the Tesla founder most recently delivering a blow to Bitcoin when he declared that the electric car company was suspending Bitcoin payments due to the coin’s dramatic environmental impact.

Other discussions and presentations exploring possibilities for investment and embracement of Bitcoin at an institutional level will feature other high profile analysts and figures like Lyn Alden (Lyn Alden Investment Strategy), Adam Back (Blockstream), Nic Carter (Castle Island Ventures), Michael Morrell (Beacon Global Strategies), Dr. Neha Narula (MIT Digital Currency Initiative) and John Newbery (Brink).

“We are proud to co-host the launch of ‘The ₿ Word,’” said Cathie Wood, founder, CEO, and CIO of ARK Invest.

“As the next wave of adopters embrace Bitcoin, we believe stakeholders must play an active role in supporting and sustaining the network."

Twitter and Square, Inc CEO Jack Dorsey said: “As companies and institutions like us are getting into Bitcoin, we all need to better understand how to put the community first and how we may help it thrive, even when it appears to be against our own interests.

“Doing so will benefit all over the long-term.”

Where and how can I watch The B Word?

To tune into the conference, you can visit The B Word’s website at https://www.thebword.org/c/the-b-word to register – with the event set to officially kick off at around 5pm.

Alternatively, to watch how the discussion between Cathie Wood, Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk plays out, you can watch the livestream of the event at the following link here.

All discussions and presentations will be livestreamed on the site from 5pm onwards, but will also uploaded to The B Word and the Crypto Council for Innovation’s website afterwards at cryptoforinnovation.org.

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