The mysterious personality of Elon Musk

18.02.2021 | auglovoi

Elon Musk is an ambitious billionaire who creates information occasions in the world of innovation.

Just one mention of cryptocurrency by Elon Musk in his Twitter (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/) leads to an instant rise in prices on online exchanges. Whereas previously he had only spoken out about areas in which he was directly involved, now he has started talking about cryptocurrencies. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission checked his statement about Tesla shares, which led to the growth of the securities price by 11%. Or is it not so clear-cut too? What does the billionaire have to do with cryptocurrency, and what punishment could follow for his calls?

Elon Musk — Satoshi Nakamoto?

The name Satoshi Nakamoto is known to anyone who has ever taken an interest in bitcoin deeper than information about its current value. The honors of creating the first cryptocurrency were attributed at different times to American entrepreneur Dorian Nakamoto, cryptographer Nick Szabo, businessman Craig S. Wright, and programmer Vladimir Oxman. But none of them were able to confirm their role.

A group of hackers was able to obtain circumstantial evidence of Elon Musk’s involvement in bitcoin. If he was not the direct developer, then we can talk about his role at the origins of the formation of the crypto industry with almost one hundred percent certainty.

Some of the “evidence” was obtained by hackers who hacked the protection system of the Japanese crypto exchange, some of it is the opinion of close people who are familiar with the billionaire’s principles and attitude to organization of financial systems. The most significant of them are.

• The largest bitcoin sales, especially during its price drops, came from Bel Air in Los Angeles, the home of Tesla’s founder. Specifically, there are reports of large trades in August 2015 and December 2017, both of which led to a 30% drop in prices. According to the hackers, only particularly large deals could cause such drops. And only someone who was either the founder or was involved in the earliest formation of bitcoin could have that many coins at that time. Also proof of Musk’s involvement in these runs is the fact that, despite his love of travel, he was at home at that very time.

• Sahil Gupta, a former SpaceX employee, also points to a high probability, if not that Musk and Nakamoto are the same person, then to their close connection. From his words, a deep knowledge of economics, strong background in programming, particularly in C++ (Qt), in which bitcoin was written, also the billionaire’s proximity to electronic finance, as he was one of the founders of PayPal, can serve as an indirect evidence of this statement.

• The time of creation of the first cryptocurrency and the personality of Elon Musk. If we take the crisis year of 2008 as the birth date of bitcoin, then we can say that this project is quite in the spirit of the billionaire’s values. Privacy, independence from the existing banking structure quite suitable to Elon’s psychology. Also, this year for him was associated with problems in the company that produces electric cars, and on the personal front. Many crypto-enthusiasts tend to believe that Musk found an outlet and distraction from the turmoil that engulfed him in the creation of cryptocurrency. And reading Satoshi Nakamoto as an anagram of “So a man took a shit” is quite consistent with the entrepreneur’s well-known specific sense of humor.

His Twitter account was blocked in 2014, believed to have been compromised when Musk offered to buy some coins of the first cryptocurrency. Afterwards, he was asked directly if he had founded the cryptocurrency, but after realizing that there was no direct evidence of involvement, Elon hastened to disavow the innovation.

What Musk’s tweets could lead to

As already mentioned, any mention of one or another cryptocurrency in the messages of Elon Musk leads to the inevitable growth of prices on online exchanges. And an example is not only bitcoin, but also Dogecoin joke coin. The billionaire has already had problems with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. And now a number of experts are urging the regulator to pay attention to him.

Thus, the SEC may impose penalties on Musk for recent publications about cryptocurrencies. Such actions could well be seen as a brokerage activity without an appropriate license, as well as a violation of the law on advertising, which expressly prohibits the promotion of securities and other financial assets. The last, one way or another, includes cryptocurrencies. And no one cancelled trivial attempts to manipulate the market. The latter looks especially credible in view of the above about Musk’s attitude to bitcoin creation.

If in the past, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission imposed a fine of $20 000 000 and forced Musk to leave the position of CEO of Tesla, then now the punishment may be more serious.

Musk’s personality — a modern-day Jobs or just a lucky guy

Elon Musk is a famous billionaire. He founded SpaceX and Tesla. He also participated in the creation of PayPal. There are many companies being created all over the world. But only a few can achieve the same success.

The comparison to Steve Jobs is not accidental. Just as the latter once revolutionized the world of gadgets, Musk turned the world of engineering, artificial intelligence, rocket science and space exploration upside down. When he announced his ambitions to create an unmanned car, many not only did not believe in his ambitions, but also openly mocked the idea itself, considering it impossible to achieve. But Elon believed in himself and in his team. And now we can see corporations around the world trying to catch up with the billionaire’s company. Among Russian companies, Yandex and Sber can be highlighted. And while the first ones are already testing the use of autopilots in Skolkovo on unmanned cabs, the financial corporation is only at the beginning of the road, collecting data.

SpaceX — Roscosmos confrontation

Musk declared his ambitions in the space industry long ago. At that time Rogozin, commenting on his words about developing at first his own rocket engine and then the reusable first stage of the launch vehicle, questioned not only the viability of such development, but also the very possibility of creating a working prototype.

Unfortunately, the Russian mass media do not talk about losing the leading position in the space industry. The palm has long been firmly secured by the U.S. and China. But Musk was able to implement all his ideas without the involvement of government funds.

Special attention should be paid to the project of covering the Earth with broadband Internet access. Already being tested successfully in different parts of the planet. Starlink shows good results. The speed of access to the network exceeds 100 Mbit/s, which for a new technology is a great result. The total cost of the project is about six billion dollars. This amount includes the development of the launch vehicle, satellites and subscriber equipment. As well as the production and launching of 4 000 satellites at the first stage of implementation. Roskosmos estimated a similar project in Russia at $10 000 000 000. But this money is only meant for the development and construction of 600 satellites and design of receiving equipment as the Russian company already has launch vehicles.

What the future holds

No matter how the personality of Elon Musk is estimated, it is clearly not worth underestimating his contribution to modern science, the economy and the development of society. Sometimes his projects seem fantastic, and sometimes simply impossible to implement. But history shows that all of his statements have come to life. Even now cars with autopilot drive around the world and save lives: the robot driver is able to quickly assess the situation on the road and make decisions in a split second, which helped prevent a large number of accidents.

Only time will show what other ideas will be developed. But we can say with confidence: an amazing future is awaiting all of us — the colonization of Mars does not look so unrealistic anymore. One great idea inspirer dies, and another one comes to take his place. Even now, over the past 70 years, you can trace a chain: Korolev-Jobs-Musk. Each of them has changed the world, which will never be the same again.