Elon Musk's tweets send bitcoin on a new rollercoaster | CNN

You can no longer buy a Tesla with bitcoin 1:03

Hong Kong (CNN Business) -

Elon Musk is once again shaking up the crypto markets.

The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) is now saying that his company has not sold any bitcoin (XBT) after previously appearing to have suggested otherwise.

His initial Twitter posts had led bitcoin to extend its losses.

The latest cryptocurrency drama began on Sunday when a user named CryptoWhale tweeted: "Bitcoiners will slap each other next quarter when they find out that Tesla ditched the rest of their #bitcoin holdings."

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"With the amount of hate that @elonmusk is getting, I don't blame him," added the user.

Musk replied simply an hour later: "Indeed."

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Within hours, bitcoin had dropped below $ 43,000, having lost more than 8% in the past day, according to cryptocurrency tracker Coinbase.

He had already lost some ground earlier Sunday, but accelerated losses after Musk's post.

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Musk then posted a follow-up tweet, writing: "To clear up speculation, Tesla has not sold any bitcoins."

The value of the digital currency immediately jumped about 3.7%, from $ 42,566 to almost $ 44,138, about five minutes after Musk's tweet, according to Coinbase.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its holdings of the digital currency.

Musk's posts came just days after he caused another stir last week, announcing that Tesla would reverse plans to accept bitcoin as payment for its cars.

Musk cited the high environmental cost of bitcoin as a reason for the change.

"We are concerned about the increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel," Musk said in a note posted on Twitter last Wednesday.

"Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at a great cost to the environment."

The environmental cost of mining, or creating, digital currencies has been well documented for years.

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The news sent bitcoin down about 12% at the time.

This came after months of Musk personally promoting bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies, such as dogecoin.

Just before that, the CEO had asked his followers in a Twitter poll if they would like "Tesla to accept Doge."

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Tesla and Musk have been quite bullish on bitcoin for at least a few months, with the company revealing in February that it had invested $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin, while also valuing the ability to buy their cars using the cryptocurrency.

Musk tweeted in late March that people "can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin."

However, the company said in a regulatory filing last month that it assesses each quarter whether "events or changes in circumstances ... indicate that our digital assets are more likely or not impaired."

He also revealed at the time that he had sold 10% of his bitcoin stake, making a profit of $ 101 million.

Last week, Musk said that Tesla still plans to use bitcoin after the coin finds cleaner energy sources.

"Tesla will not sell bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining moves to more sustainable energy," he wrote.

"We are also looking for other cryptocurrencies that use [less than] 1% of Bitcoin's energy / transaction."

Musk's other companies have also jumped into action.

Last week, his space exploration company, SpaceX, claimed that it would take dogecoin as payment for an upcoming mission.

- Rishi Iyengar contributed to this report.

BitcoinElon Musk