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Elon Musk Named Time’s Person of the Year, Says Crypto Unlikely to Replace Fiat

The Tesla CEO said he finds cryptocurrency interesting and can talk endlessly about the concept of money.

Updated May 11, 2023, 7:09 p.m. Published Dec 13, 2021, 7:59 p.m.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Time Magazine named Elon Musk its Person of the Year for 2021 on Monday, and in an interview with the publication the world’s richest person said he “doubts that crypto will replace fiat currency.”

  • Time called 2021 “the year of Elon Unbound,” given the many notable statements, actions and accomplishments of Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
  • Musk said he finds cryptocurrency interesting and can talk endlessly about the concept of money as “an information system for resource allocation.” But he said he doubts that crypto will replace fiat currency.
  • Musk recently made it on CoinDesk’s Most Influential list because of his outsized influence, both positive and negative, on crypto in 2021 – specifically on the price of bitcoin and dogecoin.
  • Regarding this often-criticized influence, Musk told Time that “markets move themselves all the time … based on nothing, as far as I can tell. So the statements that I make, are they materially different from random movements of the stock that might happen anyway? I don’t think so.”
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Read more: Most Influential 2021: Elon Musk - CoinDesk

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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

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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.

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Michael Saylor's Strategy catches a break from MSCI, but analysts caution fight isn’t over yet

MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor (Marco Bello/Getty Images)

MSCI won’t drop firms like Strategy from indexes yet, but a broader rule change may still be on the table

What to know:

  • Shares of Strategy rose 6% after MSCI decided not to exclude digital asset treasury firms from its indexes.
  • The decision alleviates immediate pressure on companies holding large amounts of bitcoin but not directly operating in the blockchain sector.
  • Analysts caution that the situation may not be resolved, as future MSCI rule changes could still impact firms like Strategy.