Bitcoin should be regulated, says SA billionaire
One of South Africa’s richest women has criticised one of the richest men in the world for manipulating the price of Bitcoin for his own benefit.
Sygnia executive chairperson Magda Wierzycka says it is ridiculous not to regulate a trillion-dollar industry like Bitcoin.
“The reason it should be regulated is that Bitcoin is used for illegitimate money exchange, money laundering and payments of a dubious nature,” she says.
This follows her public spat with Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk about his latest cryptocurrency dealings.
Bitcoin has whipsawed since February when Tesla announced it had bought $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. Tesla then indicated it would start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles. Musk himself tweeted ‘you can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin’.
This caused the price of Bitcoin to soar and by March, Tesla was able to generate a profit of $101m by selling some of its Bitcoin holdings.
Then in May, the company said it was concerned about the impact on the environment of the fossil fuel used for Bitcoin mining and transactions, and reversed its decision to allow clients to pay using Bitcoin.
Bitcoin dropped 17% after the announcement.
In an interview on The Money Show with Bruce Whitfield on June 14, Wierzycka said it was all an elaborate plan by Musk to make a quick buck through Bitcoin.
“What we have seen with Bitcoin is price manipulation by one very powerful and influential individual,” Wierzycka says.
Musk denied this on Twitter.
“This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market. When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions,” Musk tweeted.
However, Wierzycka is adamant that Musk’s dealings were fraudulent, if not criminal.
In an interview with journalist Izak du Plessis, she said if Bitcoin were regulated, Musk would have gone to jail.
“Jordan Belfort of Wolf of Wall Street fame went to jail for exactly that; it is called a pump-and-dump scheme,” Wierzycka says.
WATCH: Du Plessis’ interview with Wierzycka.
Read original story on krugersdorpnews.co.za
