Elon Musk’s Most Influential Tweets Of 2021

Love him or loathe him, there is no denying that Elon Musk is one of the world’s most influential people. 2021 saw the Tesla CEO crowned Time magazine’s “Person of the Year’‘ as his electric vehicle company became the most valuable in the world, his space company successfully carried an all-civilian crew to the edge of space, and he overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest man. 

Considering his achievements this year alone, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Musk possesses the power to control global markets with just a single tweet. As 2021 draws to a close, here’s a look at some of the Tesla CEO’s most influential tweets.  

“I kinda love Etsy”

In January, Etsy shares jumped after Musk made a short-but-sweet tweet about the US e-commerce company. His “I kinda love Etsy” tweet fuelled a stock surge of as much as 8% — a record high for the company — before the price lowered to 2.1% by close. 

“Gamestonk!!”

Also in January, Musk tweeted “Gamestonk!!” along with a link to Reddit’s Wallstreetbets’ 2 million-member stock trading discussion group that largely hyped the stock. The tweet saw GameStop’s shares rise as much as 157% in after-hours trading.

“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin”

In March 2021, Elon Musk announced via Twitter that the carmaker would begin accepting bitcoin — the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency — as a method of payment to purchase electric vehicles. This caused bitcoin to jump above $40,000, having started the day trading at just $34,880.

However, within less than two months, Tesla’s CEO had changed his mind, causing bitcoin to fall almost 17%. 

“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin,” Musk tweeted. “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.”

Speaking to MarketWatch, co-founder and principal at BKCoin Capital Kevin Kang said, “Musk is definitely too influential on Bitcoin prices. However, [his influence is] no different to what we see in traditional assets when big-name hedge-fund managers disclose their positions and those names move […] I believe the more he tweets, the more immune the market will get in the future but for now, he’s definitely one of the big influencers of the Bitcoin market.” 

“I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?”

In a surprise tweet in November, Musk launched a Twitter poll to ask his followers whether or not he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.

“Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” the Tesla CEO wrote.

After almost 58% of 3.5 million Twitter users voted yes to Musk’s poll, Tesla shares experienced their largest tumble in eight months. 

“Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes.”

In December, Musk announced via Twitter that Tesla would start accepting dogecoin on a trial basis, causing the cryptocurrency to jump 24%. The announcement followed on from a tweet in May 2021 in which the Tesla CEO said he was working with developers to improve the cryptocurrency’s efficiency. 

“Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising” Musk tweeted, causing dogecoin to soar on the day. 

Final Words

Armed with 65 million Twitter followers, a rocket company that is dominating the space tourism industry, and a car company that is dominating the electric vehicle market, the possibility that Musk’s influence will wane as we step into 2022 doesn’t seem to exist. Rather, in the year ahead, we will continue to see countless more headline-making Tweets from the Tesla CEO.