Elon Musk is a 'tourist' in crypto who just wants to 'collect followers,' Celsius Network CEO says

• Elon Musk is a "tourist" in the crypto space just looking to gain more followers, according to Alex Mashinsky.
• The CEO of the DeFi company Celsius Network said crypto is going to be fine without the billionaire Tesla chief.
• Celsius Network recently passed $21 billion in community assets on its DeFi platform.

Elon Musk is just a "tourist" in the crypto world looking to "collect followers," according to Alex Mashinsky, the CEO of the DeFi (decentralized finance) digital asset lending platform Celsius Network.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance at the Bitcoin 2021 Miami conference on Friday, Mashinsky blasted Elon Musk after his recent negative tweets about the world's largest digital asset.

"Elon is a tourist in crypto, right? He's here to collect followers," Mashinsky said. "I don't think he's here to make the world a better place. And we're going to go to where we're going with Elon or without Elon."

Musk has come under fire from the bitcoin community for ending payments in bitcoin for Teslas and tweeting about ESG concerns in recent months.

On Friday, the CEO drew further ire from bitcoin bulls after tweeting a broken heart emoji and a reference to a popular "Linkin Park" song, signaling a potential breakup with bitcoin.

The founder of the cryptocurrency platform TRON, Justin Sun, replied to Elon's tweets, saying he would buy all the bitcoin that Musk sells.

Now, Alex Mashinsky adds his name to a growing list of bitcoin bulls who are speaking out against Elon's influence in the space.

Mashinsky's company, Celsius Network, offers interest-bearing savings accounts, borrowing, and payments with digital and fiat assets. The company recently crossed the $21 billion mark in community assets on its platform.

"Our success has to do with the fact that banks and central banks are not giving you fair value for your money," Mashinsky said in the interview. "They artificially depressed yields...the banks convince you that you should be earning zero, but what Celsius does and what DeFi does is give you the real value of money."

Mashinsky's company is one of many that are hoping to overthrow traditional banks with DeFi platforms.

As Antoni Tenchev of Nexo Capital told the Wall Street Journal, "it's essentially banking for the blockchain space."

Assets deposited as collateral on DeFi platforms, known as total value locked, have grown to more than $100 billion in recent months.

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