Anonymous warns Elon Musk for Bitcoin market manipulation

The hacktivist group Anonymous have issued a warning message on 5th June 2021 to Tesla CEO Elon Musk to expose him for his constant manipulation of Bitcoin’s value with his ‘cavalier’ tweets. The group essentially implies that Musk isn’t everything he claims to be and issues a veiled warning.

Anonymous is a decentralized international hacktivist collective widely known for its various cyber attacks against several governments, government institutions and government agencies, corporations, and the Church of Scientology. They were the ones who hacked Euro 3.5 million from Paypal in 2012.

In the video that surfaced on youtube, the group claims that the Tesla CEO holds too much power over the cryptocurrency markets and they are not happy with the way he appears to be so cavalier in his attitude towards them. 

I wish to remind blockcrunch readers that after Elon Musk’s announcement of bitcoin payment suspension for Tesla cars over bitcoin’s mining energy concerns, the crypto market crashed so badly that nearly a trillion-dollar was wiped off within a week’s time. The market has yet not been able to recover from this shock and his recent cryptic tweet that many in the world of crypto interpreted as the billionaire’s breakup with Bitcoin plunges the market again. Bitcoin’s price slid below $35,000, a far cry from the record $64,802 it traded at in mid-April.

Earlier this month a sentiment tracking company Awario reported that the positive-to-negative sentiment of tweets about Musk reached a new low in May. It simply means that people that are against Elon are growing more than people who favor him.

Elon Musk’s actions are also becoming a concern to Tesla investors as well. Ross Gerber, a longtime Tesla investor, and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that he thinks Elon is wading into an area that’s maybe not the best set of statements to make. He also warned that manipulating markets and playing with people’s money is a risky strategy for Musk to take.

Also read - Elon Musk is becoming the most hated person in the crypto world

A famous American football offensive tackle, Russell Okung, launched a billboard campaign featuring himself, suggesting Musk keep out of Bitcoin and focus on space instead. The campaign will run for two weeks in Miami, Florida to coincide with the Bitcoin 2021 conference being held in the city that started on 4th June 2021. He has also placed mobile billboards around SpaceX’s launch site in Texas, and a Tesla facility in California.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO of Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume encouraged his 2.7 million followers saying “Don’t be manipulated. #HODL”. He also said that tweets that hurt other people’s finances are not funny, and irresponsible and reprimanded Musk for joking at the expense of other people’s money.

CZ had mocked Elon Musk before as well over his bitcoin mining energy remark. On May 30, 2021, he tweeted, “When you use electricity to run cars, it’s environmentally friendly. When you use electricity to run the most efficient financial networks in the world, it’s an environmental concern.”

Anonymous group claims despite Elon Musk presenting himself as someone who is concerned about the environment with Tesla’s pivot away from the digital currency, he does not practice what he preaches within the company itself.

For the past several years you have enjoyed one of the most favorable reputations of anyone in the billionaire class because you have tapped into the desire that many of us have to live in a world with electric cars and space exploration, but recently your carefully created public image is being exposed and people are beginning to see you as nothing more than another narcissistic rich dude who is desperate for attention.

Anonymous Group

Anonymous then makes things personal and says Musk suffers from a superiority/savior complex and say he is hurting working-class people and their prospects with him ‘constantly trolling’ the crypto markets. 

It appears that your quest to save the world is more rooted in a superiority and savior complex than it is in actual concern for humanity. This has been obvious to your employees for a long time who have faced intolerable conditions under your command for years.

Anonymous Group

Anonymous essentially implies that Musk isn’t everything he claims to be and issues a veiled warning. 

You may think you are the smartest person in the room, but now you have met your match. We are Anonymous! We are legion. Expect us.

Anonymous Group

Full transcript of Anonymous message to Elon Musk

Greetings citizens of the world
This is a message from Anonymous, for Elon Musk.
For the past several years you have enjoyed one of the most favorable reputations of anyone in the billionaire class because you have tapped into the desire that many of us have to life in a world with electric cars and space exploration, but recently your carefully created public image is being exposed and people are beginning to see you as nothing more than another narcissistic rich dude who is desperate for attention.
It appears that your quest to save the world is more rooted in a superiority and savior complex than it is in actual concern for humanity. This has been obvious to your employees for a long time who have faced intolerable conditions under your command for years.
It is also obvious to the young children working in your overseas lithium mines which are destroying the local environment as well. You have been open about your willingness to stage coups in order to install dictators in places where your toxic products are being mined. You have even prematurely crowned yourself 'Emperor of Mars,' a place where you will be sending people to die.
Your fanboys overlook these issues because they are focused on the potential good that your projects can bring to the world but you are not the only show in town and your competition is growing more intense with each passing day.
There are plenty of other companies working on space exploration and electric vehicles you are just the only CEO who has gained a cult following through sh*tposting and trolling the world on social media. In fact, many people are not learning that the vast majority of Tesla's income doesn't come from selling cars, it comes from government subsidies - selling carbon tax credits for your innovation with clean energy
This technically isn't your innovation though because you aren't actually the founder of Tesla. You simply purchased the company from two people much more intelligent than you are - Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning
Tesla has also made more money holding Bitcoin for a few months than they did in years of selling cars.
It is also more than likely that this Bitcoin was purchased with money from these government subsidies.
It is now widely believed you have been forced to denounce your company's involvement with Bitcoin in order to keep that green government money flowing into Tesla's coffers.
The energy use argument about proof-of-work mining is a very nuanced conversation that requires a fairly complex understanding of how power grids work and how excess energy is wasted by power companies and sought out by crypto miners.
This is a conversation that you have been having for over a year and were intimately aware of but as soon as your main source of income was threatened as your pretended to be clueless in an attempt to play both sides of the fence
Then, your move to create a Bitcoin miner council was rightly seen as an attempt to centralize the industry and take it under your control.
Reading the comments on your Twitter posts, it seems that the games you have played with the crypto markets have destroyed lives.
Millions of retail investors were really counting on their crypto gains to improve their lives. This is something that you will never understand because you were born into the stolen wealth of a South African apartheid emerald mine and have no clue what struggle is like for most of the working people in the world.
Of course, they took the risk upon themselves when they invested, and everyone knows to be prepared for volatility in crypto, but your Tweets this week show a clear disregard for the average working person.
As hardworking people have their dreams liquidated over your public temper tantrums, you continue to mock them with memes from one of your million dollar mansions.
You may think you are the smartest person in the room, but now you have met your match. We are Anonymous! We are legion. Expect us.