Musk says he supports crypto in battle against fiat money

Tesla CEO Elon Musk voiced his support for cryptocurrencies over fiat money on Saturday, saying that he prefers crypto. The statement pushed bitcoin prices higher.

“The true battle is between fiat and crypto,” Musk said in response to a Twitter user asking the billionaire what he thinks about people who are “angry at him because of crypto.” Musk added: “On balance, I support the latter.”

Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by  a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it.

The price of bitcoin rose to over $38,370 shortly after Musk's tweet. The cryptocurrency slid back to trade at $35,895 per coin on Sunday as of 08:00 GMT.

Musk has previously compared bitcoin to fiat money, tweeting in December that “bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money.” Two months later he clarified in another tweet: “when fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn't look elsewhere. Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is 'almost.'“

The billionaire’s regular tweets about cryptocurrencies have been sending values for bitcoin and other digital currencies up and down all the time.

READ MORE: Investing in bitcoin ‘less dumb’ than holding cash, but only slightly better – Elon Musk

Last week, Musk hit the top crypto with the unexpected announcement that Tesla was suspending purchases of its vehicles using bitcoin, due to environmental concerns. The billionaire cited issues with the increasing use of fossil fuels in mining bitcoin, particularly coal, as it takes massive amounts of electricity to create a single token. He added that Tesla had no plans to sell any more of its bitcoin, but confirmed that the company is looking at other cryptocurrencies that are much less reliant on energy.

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