Apple Is Not Buying $2.5B Worth Of Bitcoin, Despite What You Heard

Recent rumors has suggested that Apple AAPL bought $2.5 billion worth of Bitcoin BTC/USD, following in Tesla's TSLA footsteps.

What Happened: ChainLeak CEO Joshuwa Roomsburg said in a Monday tweet that rumors, although he did not specify the source, suggest that Apple would announce a $2.5 billion Bitcoin announcement on the same day.

Rumor has it, #Apple will make an announcement today that they have purchased $2.5B in #Bitcoin

If that happens, I'll buy the latest #iPhone TODAY! I won't use it, I'll just keep it as a souvenir for when #BTC started it's climb to $100k. Imagine what alts will do! pic.twitter.com/YyNWSUzz7V

— Joshuwa Roomsburg (@JoshRoomsburg) July 12, 2021

The tweet then has taken the crypto community by storm and made its way up to industry news outlet Bitcoinist.

Apple buying Bitcoin seems an unthinkable PR nightmare and a very real possibility for the company at the same time.

On one side, we have the firm's co-founder Steve Wozniak, who recently described Bitcoin as a "mathematical miracle," and Apple job ads for crypto experts.

On the other side, Apple is known for being a very image-conscious brand, and Tesla's Bitcoin investment was met with backlash and pressures over allegations that the network is too polluting.

Rumor Has It

OnChain Capital CEO Ran Neuner said that "if negative probabilities were a thing," that's how likely he would define this rumor to be.

Apple is not announcing $2,5bn Bitcoin purchase tomorrow.

— Ran Neuner (@cryptomanran) July 11, 2021

Similarly, DevOps Engineer Alexander Ross pointed out that the firm does not do "anything controversial" and "Bitcoin does not at this juncture fit with its brand ethos," so while such news would make him happy, he does not believe it to be likely.

As yesterday — the supposed day of the announcement — moves further and further away, the probabilities of the rumor being true seem to get slimmer by the hour.

What makes those possibilities crumble even more is that with more in-depth research, it looks like the actual origin of the whole thing was a joke made by a cryptocurrency influencer Altcoin Gordon.

On Friday, Gordon joked in a tweet that Apple would announce a $2.5 billion Bitcoin purchase on Monday.

APPLE SET TO ANNOUNCE $2.5B PURCHASE OF BITCOIN ON MONDAY - SAUCES

— Altcoin Gordon (@AltcoinGordon) July 9, 2021

The tweet was vague enough so that while his followers recognized the message's sarcasm, others took it seriously and spread it further.

Sauces? https://t.co/VVL7v9VNKR

— Altcoin Gordon (@AltcoinGordon) July 13, 2021

Gordon himself seemingly believes to be the source of the gossip, as he wrote in more recent tweets, where he asks for sources on the reports and laughs when a follower suggests that he may cause Bitcoin's price to fall over the unfulfilled expectations the influencer created.