In a move that has ignited fervent chatter in the crypto community, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has changed his Twitter profile picture to a laser-eye emblazoned picture of himself, aligning with a meme symbolizing bullish sentiment towards Bitcoin (BTC).
The update came after President Joe Biden’s announcement to end his re-election bid and pull out of the 2024 presidential race. Meanwhile, Musk has fully endorsed his challenger, former President Donald Trump, who is set to speak at the Nashville Bitcoin conference later this week.
Musk Sports Bitcoin Laser Eyes After Biden Withdraws From US Presidential Race
Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has given his X avatar a glowing, crypto-y tweak. Musk added laser eyes to his X profile picture — often deemed a nod to crypto culture, where red, glowing eyes are commonly featured in bio pics.
BIG BREAKING ELON MUSK TURNS BULLISH ON #BITCOIN CHANGES PROFILE PICTURE TO LASER EYES pic.twitter.com/0wixclDFT2
— BITCOINLFG® (@bitcoinlfgo) July 21, 2024
Hard-core Bitcoiners popularized the laser eyes meme during the 2021 bull market, with celebrities and politicians hopping on the trend to display their fondness for Bitcoin (BTC). The trend further became a calling card among crypto enthusiasts trying to push the benchmark crypto to the mystical $100,000 mark.
Musk has long been a Bitcoin and crypto adherent. His electric vehicle maker Tesla, started accepting Bitcoin as a payment option in February 2021 after purchasing $1.5 billion worth of BTC. However, the plan was later discontinued in May 2021 due to environmental concerns associated with Bitcoin mining. Musk has since announced that Tesla will restart Bitcoin payments once miners’ energy consumption is at least 50% clean. Bitcoin has reportedly passed the renewable energy milestone, but Musk has yet to resume BTC payments at Tesla.
Responding to Musk’s laser-eye profile picture, Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor observed that “Laser Eyes are back in style. #Bitcoin.”
Musk Attending Bitcoin Conference?
Musk donning laser eyes has sparked speculation about the centibillionaire attending the impending Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, where prominent figures, including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, are scheduled to speak.
Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett added fuel to the speculations about Musk’s likely appearance at the annual conference, given his ties with Trump and his well-known interest in Bitcoin. “It would make sense too. He’s friends with Trump, loves Bitcoin, and this event is turning out to be the biggest fomo event in crypto. I’m completely speculating but it would be super cool to see Elon come to Nashville,” Terrett wrote in a post on X.
Adding to the excitement, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Segal posited:
“In six days President Trump, running temporarily unopposed, will speak at The Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. Many are speculating he will propose establishing a US Strategic #bitcoin reserve. Trump praised Elon Musk at his rally last night. Now Musk has laser eyes. See you there.”
The price of Bitcoin briefly topped $68,000 early Monday morning after Musk’s apparent endorsement. In fact, it soared to as high as $68,480.36, according to CoinGecko data. At press time, BTC has retreated to $67,472.47 — but it’s still trading 0.6% higher than it was this time yesterday.
