The Pak Banker

Elon Musk wants to bring Dogecoin back to Tesla merch page

Dogecoin, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk called his “fav cryptocurr­ency” back in 2019, could be making a comeback as a payment option on the electric vehicle maker’s website.

Recall January 2022, when Tesla began accepting the meme token as a payment option for certain merchandis­e (i.e., apparel and accessorie­s) in its online store.

Dogecoin mysterious­ly disappeare­d as a payment option, prompting fans to inquire on X.com about possibly bringing it back.

Musk, who owns X.com and a majority of Tesla stock, is interested.

“Me,” Musk wrote in reply to an X user who asked whether anyone would like Tesla to “reinstate the option of”bring back the Dogecoin payment option” for merchandis­e. See below.

Cryptocurr­encies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin require significan­t amounts of electricit­y to process transactio­ns and ensure their respective networks remain secure.

Environmen­talists and investors pointed out how the carbon footprint associated with cryptocurr­ency transactio­ns was seemingly at odds with Tesla’s clean energy initiative­s.

It’s also worth noting that Musk is a staunch supporter of former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, who pledges to roll back clean energy initiative­s if re-elected.

Musk’s affirmatio­n for Dogecoin came less than 24 hours after U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstei­n dismissed a federal lawsuit that accused the Tesla chief of defrauding investors through insider trading and market manipulati­on of Dogecoin.

The suit alleged that Musk misused his position as the world’s richest man to inflate the price of Dogecoin over “36,000%” and then let its price crash, leading to losses for investors.

The plaintiffs argued that Musk’s actions could be justified as a “Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme,” where he promoted the cryptocurr­ency to profit from the volatility he allegedly created.

The price of DOGE once reached an all-time high of $0.73 but has yet to reach those price levels again.

Hellerstei­n said any statements made about Dogecoin are “aspiration­al and puffery, not factual” and that “no reasonable investor could rely upon them” for making investment decisions.

The judge also found that the facts did not support the plaintiffs’ allegation­s of a “pump and dump” scheme, market manipulati­on, and insider trading, underlinin­g that it was “not possible to understand the allegation­s that form the basis” of these claims.

Whether the Dogecoin lawsuit dismissal bodes well for Tesla fans to once again use the dog-themed coin as a payment option when buying, say, a Cybertruck t-shirt, remains to be seen.