May 18, 2021
Publication: Wired
Tesla founder Elon Musk’s tweets have the power to send bitcoin prices crashing and Dogecoin prices soaring. But with Tesla sitting on a pile of bitcoin, some are asking whether Musk’s tweets amount to illegal manipulation. Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter, who focuses on matters involving digital currencies and market manipulation, offers an answer to Wired.
Many are asking whether it is legal or ethical for someone who is taking positions in a market to be speaking publicly to move those markets. Mr. Sauter, repeating a similar argument in his recent article for CoinDesk, believes it is hard to say that it isn’t: “You can’t police based on what you think is somebody’s subjective heart-of-hearts intent.”