For some people on the internet, the things that Elon Musk posts about on Twitter are tantamount to sound financial advice; his ability to manipulate market activity is well-documented and over the years he’s preached the gospel of Dogecoin, GameStop, and of course, Tesla, his own company.
This week, the world’s cringiest billionaire (at best he’s number two if you want to make the case for Zuckerberg) turned his attention towards Manchester United, one of the most recognizable soccer clubs in the world, noting in the most off-hand way possible that he would be “buying” the team.
Following this innocuous reply tweet, the value for Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC), a cryptocurrency that is not affiliated with the team, jumped by 3,000 percent, as noted by Cointelegraph. Prior to Musk’s claims, the value of MUFC was practically worthless, amounting to fractions of a cent per token; examining a one-year valuation chart for the token will show that trading came to a grinding halt at the end of January.
Why would anyone do this?—
A cursory Google search would demonstrate that Manchester United has no official crypto token, and even some of the major crypto pricing sites like Coincodex include a warning for MUFC, by advising “users to stay away from this token and its promoters, as they are using deceptive marketing.”
Examining the Twitter account for MUFC will reveal some blatant falsehoods as well — the account claimed back in August 2021, when the token was first being launched, that users who bought into the project would receive “a tokenized share of influence on club decisions.”
After reaching a price of $1 in November 2021, following some hype-building promises like giving early buyers who were following the project’s socials a cache of 10,000 MUFC, the token subsequently crashed in December, before losing 100 percent of its value by late January 2022.
The official site for MUFC is also no longer in service, which should have issued yet another red flag for anyone who thought about speculating on the chance that Musk would try to purchase a sports team.
Musk we do this? —
For 99.9 percent of the population, Tweeting anything to this effect would be forgotten almost instantly. But this isn’t just anyone; the Techno King has a fervent following. In his defense, Musk did note the whole idea was a joke, albeit about four hours removed from tweeting. Too little, too late, for some.
This saga only proves one thing: Musk is still able to exert influence on crypto speculation, even when he isn’t trying to do so. And joke or not, fanboys always seem ready to follow him into the fray, usually to their own detriment.
