Elon Musk making headlines for all the right reasons

It seems like Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk is never out of the news these days. First, it was his EV company's meteoric stock market rise during the pandemic. Then, it was his commercial space travel firm SpaceX's involvement in the race to bring extra-terrestrial travel to the masses. Now, it's that Musk himself is the richest man who ever lived. Not only has he beaten out his rivals Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson when it comes to developing superior space exploration tech, but he is also now the undisputed victor in the Battle of the Billionaires, raking in over $25 billion in one day following a bumper deal penned with Hertz for 100,000 Tesla electric vehicles.

Musk's crypto affinity

One thing that truly sets Musk apart from Branson and Bezos is the former's rather vocal penchant for crypto. It's no secret that the Tesla chief exec has an enduring interest in the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. In fact, his proclamations got to the point that he was able to move the markets with a single tweet. First, his announcement in February that customers would be able to pay for Tesla products in BTC sent the coin on an upward trajectory. Then, his move to transition away from Bitcoin due to concerns about the environmental impact of its mining led to a 20% decline.

This begs the question: if Elon holds so much influence over the fate of the biggest and most mainstream digital currency around, what level of power could he potentially have over, say, a relatively minor altcoin?

Canine coins for the win

Perhaps the most significant altcoin to which Elon Musk has been linked is Dogecoin. The Tesla creator has been a staunch and very vocal supporter of the meme currency. He recently stated that one reason for his interest in the project was the number of ordinary Tesla and SpaceX workers that own it, explaining that "it felt like the people's crypto". However, a token spin-off of Doge, known as Shiba Inu, was also able to cash in on the Musk effect, rising over 360% in the space of just seven days following a tweet about the Tesla owner's new dog of the same breed affectionately named Floki Frunkpuppy. 

Shiba Inu has since managed to cement itself among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation, gaining over $15 billion in value. In fact, SHIB has even generated its own spin-off, Floki Inu, which is up an incredible 72,471.2% in just three months!

Should investors go all-in on SHIB?

It's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket, and this is especially true of financial markets. Most investors consider that risk-weighted diversification is truly the key to success. Though FOMO makes it hard to resist when investor hears a visionary like Elon Musk talking about specific investments, in the words of the man himself, "don't bet the farm on crypto".

Cryptocurrencies undoubtedly deserve a place in any forward-thinking portfolio, but just be sure to keep their percentage weighting within reasonable limits (10-20% is a good maximum).

Obviously, the bulk of any crypto holdings should be in established projects like BTC and ETH, with a smaller portion allocated to favoured altcoins like Doge, for instance. In fact, in a recent tweet, Musk himself confirmed that these three are the only digital assets he actually owns. Of course, investors need not limit themselves and can certainly include SHIB if they wish. Just heed Musk's central message and minimise your capital risk exposure accordingly.

Libertex for your crypto needs

So, if you're looking to bring your portfolio into the 21st century and add a bit of crypto into the mix, look no further than Libertex. Libertex offers all the big names like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, as well as many of the most attractive altcoins, such as Dogecoin, Chainlink and, yes, even Shiba Inu.

The best thing about trading digital assets with Libertex is that you don't need to have a separate account with a crypto exchange or wrap your head around cryptocurrency wallets and the like. All Libertex digital currencies are CFDs, like the majority of its other instruments. This means that you can manage an ultra-diversified portfolio spanning stocks, commodities, Forex and crypto, all from the comfort of the award-winning Libertex app.