Bitcoin steadies after Tesla move, US probe, but clocks first weekly drop since Feb.

• Financial

On Friday, Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, wrapped up the day almost flatlined after having been hit with a hefty whiplash of more than 14 per cent on yesterday, as investors seemed to have stomached the impacts of a series of tweets from Tesla Inc.

Chief Elon Musk which had dragged Bitcoin sharply lower later this week and sent dogecoin on a wild rally. However, the world’s largest cryptocurrency had witnessed its worst weekly plunge since late-February. In point of fact, a series of Musk’s tweets had knocked off Bitcoin this week as beforementioned, while the crypto asset tumbled as much as 17 per cent on Wednesday after Tesla Inc.

was quoted saying that it would stop accepting payments in bitcoin for Tesla e-vehicles citing the extent of electricity the bitcoin miners usually consume. Fanning up the flames further, bitcoin fell to a nearly 2-1/2-month low late on Thursday following reveal of a regulatory probe on crypto exchange Binance, jolting the digital asset to $45,700, its weakest level since March 1, however, Bitcoin steadied at $49,312 earlier on Friday’s Asia-Pacific trading hour and wrapped up the day 0.39 per cent higher.

Meanwhile, addressing to latest Tesla Inc move that barred consumers from purchasing Tesla e-vehicles using Bitcoin, an analyst at AJ Bell, Laith Khalaf said, “Environmental matters are an incredibly sensitive subject right now, and Tesla's move might serve as a wake-up call to businesses and consumers using bitcoin, who hadn't hitherto considered its carbon footprint.

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Musk’s tweets leap dogecoin, as Bitcoin post weekly decline

Citing statistics, in the day’s cryptocurrency market, dogecoin surged as much as 25 per cent to $0.52 following a Thursday tweet from Tesla boss Elon Musk that said Doge developers could improve system transaction efficiency, data from CoinGeko had unveiled.

However, Bitcoin was last trading almost flatlined at $49,312 amid a double whammy of a tormenting Tesla move alongside a US probe on crypto exchange Binance. Still, Bitcoin remained about 70 per cent higher in the year and more than 1000 per cent higher of its 2020-low of $3,850.