The Tesla and SpaceX CEO recently made a tweet insinuating that he is neither here nor there as far as Bitcoin is concerned. Musk in a podcast regarding Bitcoin on January 2o said that BTC is not his “safe word”. This contradicts an earlier tweet in 2019 in which he had praised the cryptocurrency as a safe investment.

Musk whose business successes are linked to the fintech industry having established X.com which later morphed to PayPal via mergers and acquisitions has said that the company (PayPal) would have become the most valuable in the world if they followed his blueprint.

Considering that PayPal has features similar to Bitcoin, Musk replied that he is neither here nor there when asked of his opinion about the cryptocurrency.

Even though he praised the Satoshi Whitepaper as clever, he highlighted the downside of Bitcoin in view of the fact that cash is getting harder to use. According to him:

“There are transactions that are not within the bounds of the law — there are obviously many laws in different countries — and normally cash is used for these transactions. But in order for illegal transactions to occur, the cash must also be used for legal transactions. You need an illegal-to-legal bridge. That’s where crypto comes in.”

He emphasized that he is not really opposed to cryptocurrencies but is wondering how to balance between what is legal and what is not and striking a balance. He maintained that some things considered legal may not really be, while those considered illegal may be perfectly not depending on country involved and perspectives of the people.

“You must have a legal to illegal bridge. So where I see crypto is effectively as a replacement for cash. I do not see crypto being the primary database [for transactions].”

Interestingly, Musk stated that “Banks are in trouble” in the earlier part of the interview, though him emphasis was on competition other that crypto. It is obvious that Musk’s mind is not made up on where to throw his weight between crypto and fiat, perhaps pending the next bull-run or institutional endorsement.