This is the view of Sygnia founder and executive chairman, Magda Wierzycka who was commenting on the future of cryptocurrency. Speaking on The Money Show, Wierzycka said if Musk did to a listed company what he did to Bitcoin, he would be investigated and severely sanctioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission. What Musk did, she said, is to buy $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin for Tesla, which accounted for a third of the company’s revenue.

He then pumped up the price by promoting Bitcoin on Twitter and telling people Tesla will accept the cryptocurrency to buy their cars. After Bitcoin rallied, Musk sold a large part of his cryptocurrency holding which made a lot of money for Tesla. After he sold the bitcoin, he announced that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as payment over concerns of the amount of energy used to mine the cryptocurrency. He also stepped up his criticism of Bitcoin as environmentally unsustainable, saying he worries about “massive use” of coal and other carbon-intensive energy to generate the electricity needed to mine digital currency.

This, Wierzycka argues, was all an elaborate plan by Musk to make a quick buck from Bitcoin. “What we have seen with Bitcoin is price manipulation by one very powerful and influential individual,” Wierzycka said. The volatility created by Musk, she said, obfuscated the fundamental sustainability of Bitcoin and the interest in it as an investment. She said the interest in Bitcoin remains huge despite the recent volatility around the cryptocurrency.