- Trump-Musk feud triggers $150B Tesla crash and a crypto market fallout, rattles both political and financial markets.
- Bitcoin and crypto markets slump as tensions rise, but HODL conviction hits two-year high.
Tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk have escalated into a high-stakes public clash, shaking up both political and financial circles.
The ripple effect? A brutal day for Tesla, crypto, and investor sentiment.
Trump vs. Musk
The dispute took a sharp turn after Trump openly threatened to sever federal contracts with Musk’s companies, triggering immediate market reactions.
As expected, Musk’s Tesla saw its stock plummet by 14.26% in a single day, wiping out roughly $150 billion in market value.
Trump took to Truth Social and fanned the flames, saying,
“Elon was ‘wearing thin’, I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”
Needless to say, Musk too took his frustrations with President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” to a new level, claiming the legislation undermines the efforts made under Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives.
In a bold move, Musk posted a “Kill Bill” movie poster, drawing a sharp parallel between the film and his opposition to the bill.
In the heat of the moment, the meme economy ignited.
A “Kill Big Beautiful Bill” (KBBB) token launched on Pump.fun, soared to a $53.12 million market cap in just nine hours, then cooled 30% to $36.73 million.
Crypto market plunges
That being said, the escalating feud between Musk and Trump appears to have spilled over into the crypto markets, triggering a wave of volatility.
Bitcoin [BTC] briefly dipped below the critical $100,500 mark, marking a more than 4% decline and raising concerns of a potential fall back into five-digit territory for the first time in a month.
At last check, BTC had slightly recovered to $103,373.93, though it still registered a 1.21% drop over the past 24 hours.
Additionally, the altcoin market experienced a sharp downturn, with Ethereum [ETH] tumbling by 7.25%, Ripple [XRP] dropping 4.35%, and Solana [SOL] sliding 5.20%.
Source: CoinGlass
Moreover, 24-hour liquidations hit $982.55 million—$891.63 million from long positions alone—marking a brutal flush of leveraged optimism.
Samson Mow urges Musk to buy Bitcoin
Amid the escalating tension, Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow stepped in with a provocative proposal.
Taking to X, Mow encouraged Musk to double down on Bitcoin by reintroducing BTC payments at Tesla and adopting a Bitcoin treasury strategy.
Source: Samson Mow/X
He even suggested that SpaceX could offer discounts on launches when paid in BTC, presenting it as a move that could challenge the existing fiat system.
According to Mow, such actions would accelerate the shift toward a hard money standard and act as a safeguard against potential government retaliation, including the freezing of Musk’s fiat assets.
He added,
“This is not financial advice. This is freedom advice.”
Bitcoin’s current status
However, despite the sharp decline in Tesla’s stock, which poses a real threat to Elon Musk’s net worth, Bitcoin’s long-term investors remain unfazed.
In fact, data showed that BTC’s HODL levels have reached their highest point in two years, reflecting a wave of accumulation and unwavering belief in the asset’s future.
This growing conviction among holders suggests that, even amid market turbulence and political drama, faith in Bitcoin’s long-term value remains strong.
