London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Aug 20, 2026

Crypto bites back? Elon Musk slips to No. 3 in world’s richest ranking after sending bitcoin nosediving

Crypto bites back? Elon Musk slips to No. 3 in world’s richest ranking after sending bitcoin nosediving

Tesla founder Elon Musk has been pushed down to third place in world’s richest ranking after shares in the carmaker tumbled. The plunge came after the billionaire sent the bitcoin market into panic with a single tweet.
Musk, who as recently as March climbed to the coveted top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index before being edged out by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, lost his runner-up position to Bernard Arnaut, chairman of world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate LVMH on Monday, the Bloomberg reported.

The drop in Musk’s fortune, which is now estimated at $160.6 billion, some 24% lower since January, is believed to be driven by the lukewarm performance of Tesla’s stock, which fell by 2.1 percent on Monday to $576.83 – a far cry from the all-time high of $883.09 in January.

While Tesla shares are noted for taking a deep plunge on Mondays only to recover some of their value closer to the end of the week, it may well be that Musk’s bitcoin-themed Twitter posts finally caught up with him.

As recently as Sunday, Musk threw the world’s largest crypto into freefall after investors interpreted his single-word tweet as an indication that he might have sold or considered selling Tesla’s cryptocurrency stock. Musk tweeted “indeed” in response to a user who said that “bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #bitcoin holdings,” and that “with the amount of hate @elonmusk is getting, I wouldn’t blame him.”

The tweet sent ripples across the cryptocurrency world, with bitcoin careening to as low as $42,441 at one point in its biggest drop in three months.

While it regained some strength after Musk took to Twitter to clarify that Tesla had not sold any bitcoin, it didn’t quite bounce back and is trading at about $45,000 as of Monday evening.

Last week, Musk, who has been a proponent of cryptocurrencies, dealt another serious blow to the world’s leading crypto by announcing that Tesla would no longer accept payment for its vehicles in bitcoin, citing environmental concerns related to the use of fossil fuels in its mining. In February, Musk announced that the carmaker had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, sending the price of the token soaring.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Retail Sentiment Improves as Summer Spending Boosts Consumer Confidence
UK Aid Cuts Draw Warnings From Charities Over Humanitarian Consequences
UK Financial Conduct Authority Issues Guidance for Motor Finance Redress Scheme
UK Met Office Launches Aviation Programme to Reduce Climate Impact of Persistent Contrails
Former UK Civil Service Chief Received Record 500,000 Pound Severance Payment
West Midlands to Bring Bus Network Under Public Franchising Model
UK Government Drops Plan to Relax Affordable Housing Requirements After Backlash
UK Reaffirms Military Support for Ukraine Despite Russian Hybrid Warfare Threats
UK Technology Sector Expands Nearly 8 Percent as Digital Industry Outpaces Wider Economy
UK Drought Threatens Harvests Across England and Wales as Food Inflation Risks Persist
UK Government Pledges 442 Million Pounds to End Rough Sleeping by Christmas
UK Government Signals Willingness to Reconsider Digital Services Tax Amid US Tariff Threats
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9 Percent as Energy Costs Threaten Economic Recovery
NHS Hospitals Cancel Surgeries as Extreme Heat Pushes Ward Temperatures Above 40 Degrees Celsius
UK Heatwave Forces Emergency Measures as Wildfire Risk, Hospital Disruption and Drought Intensify
A Sleepless Night on Wall Street: Nasdaq to Begin Nearly Round-the-Clock Trading
"The First in the World": 69-Year-Old Protested Artificial Intelligence—and Went to Jail
Ukraine's Ousted Defence Minister Calls for Wartime Presidential Election
UK Marks Ten Years of Night Tube as London Weekend Usage Exceeds Eighty-One Thousand Journeys a Night
Met Office Issues Thunderstorm Warnings Across Northern Ireland Over Flash-Flood Risk
Frasers Group Raises Stake in Hugo Boss to Nearly Forty-Eight Percent
Scottish Clyde Marine Pilots Prepare for Strike That Could Disrupt Glasgow and Greenock Shipping
Twenty Passengers Injured After Southern Train Derails Near Lewes in East Sussex
Government Rules Out High-Speed Rail Revival Between West Midlands and Northern England
West Midlands Bus Network Returns to Public Ownership in Twenty-Four Million Pound Deal
UK Competition Watchdog Targets Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School Over Drip Pricing
Northern Ireland Health Minister Mike Nesbitt Resigns After Dispute Over Causeway Hospital Surgery Closure
UK Long-Term Government Bond Yields Rise to Five Point Eight Five Percent as Borrowing Costs Surge
UK Government Overhauls Planning Rules to Push Housing Development Near Major Transport Hubs
UK Health and Economic Pressures Highlight Wider Strain on Households and Public Finances
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham Reaffirms Full Support for Ukraine Amid Russian Warnings
Sainsbury’s Suspends Live Facial Recognition at London Store After Customer Misidentified
Artists Urge UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to Reject New North Sea Oil and Gas Licensing
UK Government Awards Four Hundred and Fifty-Six Million Pound Civil Service Training Contract to EY and KPMG
Global Government Bond Yields Rise as Middle East Conflict Fuels Inflation Concerns
British Housing Market Records Weakest August Since Two Thousand and Eighteen as Asking Prices Fall
UK Announces New Sanctions on Russian Shadow Fleet and Financial Institutions
UK Approves Virgin Rail Group Services Through Channel Tunnel, Challenging Eurostar
UK Government Backs Three Hundred Million Pound AI Investment Zone in North Lanarkshire
UK Declares National Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Imported Eggs
China’s Lifelike AI Humans Move From Livestreams Into Real-World Service Roles
UK Government Rolls Out £5.8 Billion Regional Investment Programme to Revive High Streets
AstraZeneca Ends Late-Stage Lung Cancer Trial After Data Shows No Survival Benefit
London Stocks Fall for Sixth Day as Bond Yields and Middle East Tensions Weigh on Markets
UK Government Rewrites Planning Rules to Accelerate Housing Near Transport Hubs
UK Wildfires Spread Across Southern England as Met Office Issues Severe Heat Warnings
British Doctors Warn Cancer Care Is at Risk as Hospitals Reject More Than a Quarter of Urgent Referrals
UK Hospitals Suspend Critical Care as Extreme Heat Exposes Infrastructure Failures
Sarah Ferguson Reportedly Retreats to Late Ex-Boyfriend's Swiss Chalet
×