Written by: Billy Bambrough, Forbes
Compiled by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News
Elon Musk has rarely shilled as frequently as he did in 2021, but he has pushed X one step closer to the crypto market. This article analyzes how Musk is positioning for the next Bitcoin and crypto rally: not by pumping prices with a single tweet, but by connecting discussion, market data, and trading entry points.
On the same day, Bitcoin's price surged to around $87,000, then slightly pulled back, still at a multi-month high. This is still far from the previous high of about $126,000 in October 2025, but for a market that has been hovering between $60,000 and $80,000 for most of this year, it is enough to boost sentiment. Dogecoin strengthened in tandem, once again rising above $0.10, with a 24-hour gain of over 10%. The market sees two things together: prices are rising, and X has turned "seeing a coin" into "clicking to buy."
What X Did and Didn't Do
The change comes from Cashtags. When U.S. users tap on $BTC, $ETH, $XRP, $SOL, $DOGE, or stock tags like $TSLA and $COIN in their timeline, they see a larger real-time chart, related posts, and a "Trade" button. Clicking it redirects to Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, or Interactive Brokers, Moomoo. Crypto assets go to the first three exchanges, stocks and ETFs go to the latter two brokerages. Logging in or opening an account, placing orders, and custody are all completed on the partner platforms. X does not match orders, clear, or touch customer funds; it only serves as a discovery layer and traffic funnel.
Mridul Singhai, a member of X's product engineering team, said the goal of Cashtags is to fill the gap between timeline information and market execution. The feature is currently only available to U.S. users, with no timeline for other markets. For a platform with hundreds of millions of daily active users, the significance of this step is not that "X has become an exchange," but that it turns crypto discussion from spectating into something executable. Earlier in 2026, Smart Cashtags could already display real-time quotes; now there is an order path. Information becomes action, removing a layer of friction in between: opening a browser, searching for an exchange, and then registering.
This is a separate track from X Money. X Money was opened to some Premium users in mid-year, offering fiat transfers, savings, and Visa card services, advertising an approximately 6% yield and cashback, and did not include crypto features at launch. The regulatory licenses follow the money transmission and bank partnership path, first building the fiat foundation, then discussing stablecoin or crypto integration. Musk's team previously confirmed that crypto trading would be integrated through Smart Cashtags, with X itself not acting as a broker. The trading button launched in September is equivalent to implementing that statement to some extent. The market is still speculating whether the next step will embed Bitcoin, Dogecoin, or stablecoins into X Money, but there is currently no official timeline.
Companies and People: Coins on the Balance Sheet, Energy in the Rhetoric
Tesla still holds about 11,509 bitcoins, worth nearly $1 billion at current prices, with its holdings appreciating by about $123 million this week. SpaceX's listing documents disclosed about 18,712 bitcoins, which at one point doubled outside estimates of its holdings, with a purchase cost of about $661 million. Together, the two companies hold more than 30,000 bitcoins, which would rank fifth globally by public company bitcoin holdings. Musk personally has long said he holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin, though the exact amounts have never been disclosed. The market treats him as a crypto sentiment switch, looking at his influence, not entirely at how many coins he has in his pocket.
His public statements in recent years have shifted focus from "whether to buy" to "what money is." He wrote: energy is the real currency; fiat can be printed, energy cannot be faked; Bitcoin is built on energy. He also told The Economist that if AI and robots push supply to extreme abundance within about a decade, money as a concept may no longer matter. The Bitcoin community interprets this as: he has not exited the narrative, he has just taken the argument to a more fundamental level—computing power, electricity, and settlement that cannot be forged.
This rhetoric contrasts with 2021. At that time, Tesla briefly accepted Bitcoin payments, then paused due to mining energy consumption; the company subsequently sold most of its position, leaving the current batch. Musk turned to Dogecoin and memes, then briefly moved closer to the policy arena during the Trump cycle, before distancing himself again. Prices no longer jump instantly at his mention, but once X changes its product, the market will still reprice him.
Prices Are Rising, But That Doesn't Mean the Cycle Is Confirmed
In mid-September, Bitcoin was still around $75,500, rising over 15% within days, touching about $87,300 intraday, then pulling back to the $85,000 to $86,000 range. Spot volume increased significantly. On-chain data platform Glassnode pointed out that Bitcoin's MVRV ratio has reclaimed its 365-day moving average, a momentum signal that previously appeared before the start of bull markets in 2019 and 2023. Some analysts view reclaiming the 365-day moving average as a "bull signal," with the next resistance at $88,000 to $90,000. Other analysts caution that the earlier short squeeze significantly amplified the rally—over $648 million in short positions across the market were forcibly liquidated, creating a self-reinforcing loop of "breakout—liquidation—breakout." Chasing highs with leverage is not appropriate; one should first observe whether the $82,000 area can hold.
The total crypto market cap is approaching $3 trillion again, with Bitcoin's dominance at about 59%. These numbers show the rebound has volume, but they cannot alone prove the four-year cycle has turned the page.
The macro narrative remains the same old themes: U.S. debt expansion, changes in the monetary environment, gold leading the way, and the so-called debasement trade flowing back into digital assets. Kevin O'Leary and others have set very high ceilings for the next round. He suggested Bitcoin could achieve a 1% to 3% allocation in institutional alternative asset portfolios, which by his calculation would put prices in the $253,000 to $760,000 range, and if the upper limit is reached, the market cap would be $15 trillion. He also pointed out that the premise for Bitcoin reaching $1 million is that the industry must first address concerns that quantum computing could break encryption standards. Predictions themselves are extremely volatile and should only be used as sentiment coordinates.
For traders, the facts that can be verified right now are not complicated. First, X has connected crypto discussion to licensed exchanges, starting with a U.S. trial. Second, two core companies within Musk's ecosystem remain large corporate holders of coins, with positions publicly verifiable. Third, the payment product first goes through fiat, with crypto integration listed as a plan, not a launched feature. Fourth, coin prices have rebounded from this year's lows to multi-month highs, but are still a long way from the previous high.
Opening an entry point is not the starting gun for a bull market, and posting less does not mean leaving the field. If the next round truly arrives, the market will look back at this step: not at what Musk said again, but at whether, when hundreds of millions of people scroll past $BTC, buying a coin is just one click away.
