Bitcoin soars above $40,000 after Tudor Jones endorsement, Musk’s about-face on accepting crypto

Bitcoin’s price hopped over $40,000 on Monday following bullish comments by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.

“I like bitcoin as a portfolio diversifier. Everybody asks me what should I do with my bitcoin? The only thing I know for certain, I want 5% in gold, 5% in bitcoin, 5% in cash, 5% in commodities,” Tudor Jones said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday.

The cryptocurrency began its latest surge on Sunday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric vehicle maker could accept bitcoin transactions again in the future.

Bitcoin jumped 12.9% to $40,710 in 24 hours, according to Coinbase. The cryptocurrency started Sunday trading at just $34,880. Since the start of the year, bitcoin has surged more than 30%, though it has experienced wild swings. It hit an all-time high of $64,829.14 in April and hit a low near $30,000 in May following a 30% intraday crash.

With the expected rise in inflation this past year, institutional investors’ interest in bitcoin as a store of value has grown significantly and fueled its most recent bull run. Tudor Jones first revealed last spring on CNBC that he held “almost 2%” of his assets in bitcoin. Since then Stanley Druckenmiller, Bill Miller and Ray Dalio have also become more outspoken bitcoin enthusiasts.

Institutions rode that momentum, with major custody banks like BNY Mellon and State Street seeking to offer crypto services for clients and major financial institutions like BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs figuring out how to safely offer clients exposure to bitcoin. Previously, there was tremendous career risk for investment institutions trying to get bitcoin into their portfolios.

“For me, it’s just a way of kind of foundationally looking at how do I protect my wealth over time, it’s a great diversifier,” Tudor Jones added. “Again, I look at bitcoin as a story of wealth. I look at crypto as a story of wealth. Others will argue this is a different ecosystem, it’s transactional in nature.”