By
Bena Ilyas
April 18th, 2024
Klarna CEO said tweets promoting Bitcoin may encourage retail traders to invest in the digital asset without considering the risks involved.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the CEO of European fintech giant Klarna, said he is “deeply worried” about how tweets have been increasingly promoting Bitcoin.
For Siemiatkowski, the CEO believes that regulators should take steps regarding the Bitcoin promoting tweets to protect people from potential losses.
Klarna CEO: Tweets on Bitcoin
Klarna CEO expressed his worry on tweets advancing Bitcoin while speaking in an interview with CNBC on the 24th of February.
He said:
“If I go on Twitter and search for bitcoin I can see people writing: ‘Buy now or you’re going to miss the biggest opportunity of your life. If I would take Klarna stock and advertise it with similar writing, I would get a fine or I would even be put to jail. I am very surprised why regulators aren’t chasing these elements.”
The CEO also said tweets promoting Bitcoin may encourage retail traders to invest in the digital asset without considering the risks involved. Noting that Bitcoin could be an “interesting technology,” he warned that tweets promoting Bitcoin could be misleading.
Siemiatkowski added that financial products need to follow standard regulations. He stated that somebody needs to “police that to make sure those are being met because otherwise what we will have is a lot of consumers losing a lot of money. And that’s just unfortunately what is happening.”
Bitcoin has been pulling in significant increases over the past months. Over the past year, the king coin has grown more than 400% while recording several new highs. Over the same period, the leading cryptocurrency saw an increase in demand from institutional investors.
Bitcoin Spikes in Reaction to Musk’s Twitter Post
Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk declared his support for Bitcoin on Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) last month, adding the Bitcoin hashtag to its bio. In reaction, the price of Bitcoin surged 20%, increasing by $5,000 within an hour.
The growing Bitcoin adoption among institutional investors is boosting bulls confidence in the digital asset.
Earlier this month, Tesla announced in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. Tesla also said it would begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment in exchange for any of its products.
Following Tesla’s announcement, many believe that the automaker’s acquisition would encourage more companies to invest in Bitcoin.
In August 2020, business intelligence company MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR) announced its first BTC acquisition. The initial purchase made the company the first listed company to buy BTC as part of its capital allocation strategy. At the time, the company purchased 21.454 BTC. MicroStrategy has been bullish with its BTC investments and has acquired more of the king coin since then.
MicroStrategy announced its most recent Bitcoin acquisition worth over $1 billion on the 24th of February. The company said it added 19,452 BTC and now holds a total of 90,531 Bitcoin. According to the announcement, MicroStrategy purchased each coin at about $52,765.