'Elon Musk Is A Tourist In Crypto,' Says Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky Who Predicts $160K BTC By Year End

What Happened: Alex Mashinsky, CEO of crypto lending platform Celsius, believes that Bitcoin BTC/USD hasn’t reached its highs for 2021 just yet.

In an interview with Cointelegraph at the Bitcoin Miami conference, Mashinsky said, “I do see us going all the way to $160,000 this year.”

Although he didn’t rule out closing the year “a little bit lower” than that, Mashinsky noted that the market has significantly less leverage and is now poised to build up more momentum.

Mashinsky also commented on Elon Musk’s influence on the crypto market, noting that the massive drawdowns in Bitcoin’s price came after tweets from the Tesla Inc TSLA CEO.

“I call him a tourist. He’s a tourist in crypto. He’s here to collect more followers. He’s not here to help you or me 'hodl,' or learn about it,” said Mashinsky.

“So I don’t see him helping the community,” he added. “I see him basically seesawing, manipulating.”

Mashinsky went on to compare Musk’s love-hate relationship with Bitcoin to an on and off girlfriend.

“One day I love you, one day I don’t love you. You know, that’s not what we’re looking for.”

Read also: Elon Musk Sets The Record Straight On When Tesla Will Accept Bitcoin Again

The Celsius CEO also weighed in on Tesla’s decision to offer Bitcoin payments in the first place, suggesting that Tesla has the upper hand over the average user in such a transaction.

“If the richest guy in the world is willing to exchange a Bitcoin for a Tesla, you have to ask yourself, who is getting the good deal? The minute you buy that Tesla, it's worth less than what you paid for it, but Bitcoin is going to continue to increase in value. So that transaction is good for Elon, but it's not good for you,” he said.

Price Action: At press time, the market-leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin was trading at $34,070, gaining 2.15% in the past 24-hours.

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