Elon Musk Teases Accepting Dogecoin as Payment for Teslas, Touting It as ‘The People’s Crypto’ – Unchained

Speaking at a Tesla event in Germany, the CEO recalled his first encounters with Dogecoin and its democratic appeal.

Elon Musk has once again stirred speculation in cryptocurrency markets by making public comments appearing to endorse Dogecoin, frequently touted as the CEO’s favorite cryptocurrency. 

Speaking at an event at a Tesla factory in Germany on Wednesday, Elon Musk fielded questions during a Q&A session that eventually led to the question of purchasing Teslas with the cryptocurrency.

“When can you buy a Tesla with Dogecoin?” Musk said, repeating a question. “You know, at some point, I think we should enable that,” Musk said in a video originally uploaded by X user @dogeofficialceo. “You can buy Tesla merch with Doge, which is cool. So,” he added with a chuckle and to applause from the crowd, “Dogecoin to the moon.” 

JUST IN: Elon Musk says Tesla will enable $DOGE payments “at some point, Dogecoin to the moon.”

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— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 14, 2024

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Musk went on to reflect on his earliest encounters with Dogecoin, which involved interactions with line workers in Tesla factories who expressed interest in the token. Said Musk:

A lot of people may not know the reason I ended up somewhat endorsing Dogecoin. It happened when I was walking around the Tesla factory. Some people who were just working on the line—like, not rich people or anything—asked me, “Can you please support Doge?” Similarly, while I was at SpaceX, just walking in the factory, some regular guys said, “Hey, can you support Doge?” And I thought, “You know what? Doge is the people’s crypto, so I will support it.” This is because lots of rich people were supporting  bitcoin. But I was like, “Huh… if the people on the line want me to support DOGE, I will support DOGE. DOGE is for you.”

The meme-inspired cryptocurrency, which Musk has often championed as his preferred digital currency, saw a near 8% price increase following his remarks, topping out at $0.189, but has since retraced to $0.174 — a 4% gain over 24 hours.

Crypto’s Role at Tesla

Tesla’s relationship with cryptocurrencies has been a blend of pioneering moves and cautious retreats, notably reflected in its handling of bitcoin. In February 2021, the electric vehicle manufacturer invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin and temporarily accepted it as payment for car purchases. 

However, Musk reversed the decision only months later, citing uncertainty about bitcoin’s environmental impact as a reason to postpone accepting it. In July 2021, Musk said Tesla would again consider accepting bitcoin as payment if the energy grid used by the network’s mining pools could reach 50% renewables. To date, Tesla has not reinstated bitcoin payments.

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Despite the volatility in the crypto market and the eventual sale of a significant portion of its bitcoin holdings, Tesla has continued to explore the crypto space, particularly with Dogecoin. The adoption of Dogecoin as a payment method for Tesla merchandise in January 2022 marked another significant shift in its handling of cryptocurrency, embracing the meme currency for transactions on a more permanent basis. 

Payment with Dogecoin is still enabled for Tesla’s merchandise store, but the site does not support any other cryptocurrencies at this time.