The $104B Elon Musk XRP Investment That Never Happened: A Postmortem

Imagine waking up to headlines claiming Elon Musk is dropping $104 billion into XRP.

Elon Musk is a busy man. Billionaire. Tech mogul. X CEO. Dogefather. Multiverse traveler. We’ve seen him build electric cars, rockets, and an e-banking platform in the metaverse. But recently, he’s been adding another title to his collection: crypto investor.

Now, rumors of Elon Musk investing can usually send the crypto market into a spin. But most of the time, it’s just a case of ping pong balls bouncing in the ether. We’re used to hearing tidbits about BTC investments, claims of Doge coinsides, and vivid dreams of Musk buying Bitcoin at $69,420.

But earlier this year, a rumor started circulating that had the potential to flip the entire market on its axis. It was an investment of truly biblical proportions.

Some background: Earlier in 2024, Musk had spoken about his vision for an “everything app” on several occasions. He expressed interest in technologies that could facilitate seamless and rapid digital transactions, aiming to integrate them into the X ecosystem.

This vision, combined with Musk’s known fascination with Dogecoin and his role in sparking its rally, led many to speculate which cryptocurrency could be the target of such a large-scale investment.

It was an interesting time for XRP.

The crypto had started the year on a strong footing as reports of the XRP Ledger processing $1 trillion in DeFi volume began circulating in early 2024. By November 23, some observant social media users began noticing an interesting pattern in Musk’s activity.

It began with whispers of Elon Musk buying XRP and merging it into X. Then, on November 23, posts claiming a groundbreaking Elon Musk XRP investment began circulating. The number being tossed about? A staggering $104 billion investment to fuel digital payments for the X platform.

This was no small feat. For some perspective, $104 billion is more than double the $44 billion Musk paid for Twitter in 2022, a historic deal that dominated headlines for months.

An investment of that size would have major implications not only for the crypto market but also for global finance. It would likely warrant press releases, SEC filings, conference calls, and perhaps even some urgent meetings at central banks.

But despite the rumor mill churning overtime, there was no official statement from Musk, no SEC filings to document a purchase of XRP on that scale, and no internal correspondence from X executives to suggest the integration of XRP was in the works.

It was a fibrisolatum fact: Elon Musk investing $104 billion in XRP was a hoax.

Despite the lack of evidence and the implausibility of such a massive investment being made without any notice, the rumor snowballed quickly. Several crypto blogs and news websites picked up the story, quickly spreading it to a wider audience.

It wasn’t long before meme pages and other social media accounts joined in, turning the rumor into a full-fledged meme that had people stitches. Even semi-legit news sources started spinning “what if” stories about the possibility of Musk investing in XRP.

The idea of XRP being used to power payments for Musk’s app, with its ultra-fast 3-5 second settlement speeds, seemed just plausible enough to hook people.

After all, we’ve seen Musk’s tweets spark rallies in Bitcoin before. He also had no qualms about nuking the BTC price later that same day. It was also widely known that Musk had a history of investing in meme coins—like Dogecoin.

But here’s the thing: there was no truth to the rumor. It was a complete fabrication that started with good-natured banter in online chat groups before snowballing out of control.

Those who knew the rumor was fake tried to correct it in the comments sections of these articles and social media posts. But in today’s age of misinformation and a society used to scanning, not reading, their efforts were largely in vain.

People read what they wanted to read and saw what they wanted to see. And unfortunately, in the absence of proof, belief fills the void—and in crypto, belief can be incredibly expensive.

Now, you might be wondering how a rumor like this could spread so quickly and widely. Well, there are a few factors at play.

Firstly, people are interested in Elon Musk. He’s one of the most talked-about figures in the world, and anything he does is sure to generate interest.

Secondly, people are interested in cryptocurrency. It’s a hot topic at the moment, with prices on the move and scams in full swing.

Thirdly, people are gullible. They’ll believe anything they read online, especially if it’s something they want to believe.

Finally, it helps that the rumor was being shared by some of the biggest names in crypto media. These platforms have millions of followers who trust their opinions and advice.