Share this article
Bitcoin’s Still a Buy, Despite Tesla, Says Bloomberg’s McGlone
Will the man who forecast bitcoin's price rise to $50K last year be heeded or ignored?
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:55 p.m. Published May 13, 2021, 7:26 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Elon Musk's concern that bitcoin (BTC) might be bad for the environment isn't enough to derail the cryptocurrency's potential for further price gains, said Bloomberg Intelligence commodity strategist Mike McGlone.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
"Elon Musk saying Tesla is suspending purchases using bitcoin doesn't shake our thesis that the crypto is in early price discovery days on its way to becoming the global digital reserve asset in a world of accelerating digitalization and electrification," McGlone wrote Thursday in a new report.
The report follows a 13% drop in the price of bitcoin, the most in a single day in almost four months. The drop was prompted by Musk, Tesla's CEO, saying late Wednesday the electric-car company was ending its bitcoin-for-cars offer made earlier in the year. That Feb. 8 announcement drove up bitcoin's price so dramatically – by 19% – that it was lionized by some fans of the cryptocurrency as "Elon's candle," in a reference to the resulting pattern on price charts.
Read more: Bloomberg’s McGlone Warns of ‘Predominant Deflationary Forces’
Now, bitcoin analysts are scrambling to adjust their price forecasts and respond to concerns bitcoin's energy needs contribute to fossil-fuel burning, making it a climate threat at a time when environmental, social and governance concerns are becoming more important to institutional investors.
McGlone is considered a hot hand in cryptocurrency markets because he accurately forecast bitcoin's price rise to $50,000 last year, at a time when it was trading at just a fraction of that level.
Solar and wind
What matters the most, according to McGlone, is the source of the Bitcoin network's energy.
"The source of electricity is increasing from solar and wind, which are cost effective," according to the report. "On a global scale, electricity is going renewable."
Musk's remarks about the crypto's electricity consumption are "odd" coming from an automaker whose product is "fed solely by electricity," the analyst wrote.
McGlone wrote that bitcoin "shows comfort at the whole-number level around $50,000, which was our initial call on a 2021 target resistance value."
"The rule of money flowing to where it's treated best looks like an enduring tailwind for bitcoin," he wrote.
At press time, bitcoin was changing hands around $48,322, down about 10% over the prior 24 hours. The decline left the cryptocurrency's price up about 67% for the year to date.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Crypto ETFs with staking can supercharge returns but they may not be for everyone
From yield potential to custody risks, here’s how direct ETH and staking funds compare for different investor goals.
What to know:
- Investors can now choose between owning ether directly or buying shares in a staking ETF that earns rewards on their behalf.
- While staking ETFs offers yield, they come with risks and less control than holding ETH in an exchange or wallet.
- Grayscale’s Ethereum staking ETF recently paid $0.083178 per share, yielding $3.16 in rewards on a $1,000 investment.
Top Stories
