Crypto Markets Spark Back To Life As Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Resume Accepting Bitcoin

The global cryptocurrency markets gained over $100 billion on Sunday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will resume bitcoin transactions once it confirms there is reasonable clean energy usage by miners.

Bitcoin, which had been trading flat earlier today, jumped as high as 8 percent to $39,360, recovering from earlier losses and setting up for a possible bigger bullish run.

The tech billionaire took to Twitter on Sunday to refute claims by Magda Wierzycka, CEO of South African asset manager Sygnia that he engaged in a bitcoin pump-and-dump scheme earlier this year."

"The volatility we have seen [in bitcoin] is an unexpected function of what I would call market manipulation by Elon Musk, and if that happened to a listed company he would be investigated and severely sanctioned by the SEC," Wierzycka said Wednesday, likely referring to the fact that the SEC only has regulatory authority over securities—and not currencies. The SEC defines market manipulation as the "intentional or willful conduct designed to deceive or defraud investors by controlling or artificially affecting the price of securities."

"Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm [bitcoin] could be liquidated easily without moving [the] market," Musk said in response, referring to Tesla's first-quarter bitcoin sale that resulted in proceeds of $272 million after several tweets touting the cryptocurrency. 

“When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing bitcoin transactions.”

Other cryptocurrencies such as Ether, Ripple's XRP, Cardano's ADA among others also sprung into gains, ending the weekend's rut. 

Musk’s comments on social media about cryptocurrency often send prices soaring or plummeting.