Elon Musk, Founder and Chief Engineer of SpaceX, speaks during the Satellite 2020 Conference in Washington, DC, United States on March 9, 2020.
Yasin Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Saturday that bitcoin prices “seem high” after the cryptocurrency surged to another record high this week.
The price of bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, crossed a major milestone Friday after the market value reached more than $1 trillion, leaving some major backers surprised. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also hit record highs.
“Money is just data that allows us to avoid the inconvenience of barter,” tweeted Musk, a major proponent of digital currencies. “That data, like all data, is subject to latency & error. The system will evolve to that which minimizes both.”
In a following post, Musk added, “that said, BTC & ETH do seem high lol,” in a response to a user who said gold was better than both bitcoin and cash.
Bitcoin was trading at under $54,000 per coin Friday as it hit the new level, and rose above $55,000 later in the session, according to Coin Metrics. The cryptocurrency was trading above $57,000 on Saturday. The price of bitcoin has gained roughly 350% during the past six months.
Ethereum also hit a record $2,040.62 for a weekly gain of roughly 12%. It was trading at $1,996 on Saturday.
The bitcoin surge was driven partly by increased adoption by major investors and companies. Bank of New York Mellon said this month that it was moving into the space.
Tesla also converted some of its balance sheet cash into bitcoin earlier this year and said it would begin accepting the digital currency as payment, a move that triggered even more interest in the currency.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound contributed reporting