The cryptocurrency market suffered another major decline, again seemingly triggered by a tweet from Elon Musk.

Bitcoin was one of the biggest decliners, falling to a three-month low of $42,441 after hitting a high of $61,000 last month; according to CoinMarketCap, as of 1:30 PM ET today (May 17), the overall market is down about 8% versus Sunday The market is down about 8% versus Sunday.

The trouble started when Musk responded to a tweet that "Bitcoiners will slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped their remaining #bitcoin holdings." elonmusk's hatred makes it hard to blame him, but ......."

Musk responded, "Sure," but this did not negate the possibility that Tesla would dump bitcoin. The currency quickly dropped in value, but Musk was not done yet. In the evening of California time, he tweeted again, only this time, "To clarify speculation, Tesla is not selling bitcoin." Just like that, the market began to rise again: bitcoin regrouped to around $45,000, although it is now down to $42,500.

You may be old enough to remember the last time Tesla's CEO had a major impact on Bitcoin's value, because it was just last week. On Wednesday (May 12), Musk tweeted a statement explaining that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as payment for cars. His statement caused the coin's value to drop, and other markets followed suit.

Tesla's investment in bitcoin is not insignificant. The company revealed in a February SEC filing that it has invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency. It is also clear that when it comes to Bitcoin, Musk has significant power over the market.

And it's not just Bitcoin. Dogecoin, which appears to be Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, crashed after he called it a "hustle" on "Saturday Night Live" earlier this month and soared after he tweeted that he was working with Doge developers to make it more environmentally friendly.

While Musk's power is certainly not limitless, few others have an audience as responsive to his musings on crypto. While cryptocurrencies have enormous potential and are certainly not a fad or a tool for criminals, those who invest should only spend what they can afford to lose. And keep an eye on Mask's Twitter feed.