Mysterious Disappearance of Dogecoin Elon Musk, the chief executive at Tesla Inc., has three different times spoken publicly in support of the cryptocurrency known as Dogecoin. He may be currently working on restoring the meme-based cryptocurrency as a means of payment available to them merchandise. This comes after the cryptocurrency was silently pulled off the website of Tesla and that too when its fans were getting curious about it on X.com, formerly Twitter.
Tesla made headlines in January 2022, by announcing it would take the cryptocurrency Dogecoin as payment for merchandise such as its apparel and accessories. That option was pulled without explanation. Anyway, Tesla never gave the option to pay with cryptocurrency for their electric vehicles.
Musk’s Cryptic Response on X.com The owner of X.com and a major chunk of them fanned the rumors about the return of Dogecoin very recently. To a question if anyone would like to see Dogecoin put back as a way to pay for something or not, Musk said, “Me.” And this tiny yet revealing response kicked off a discussion thread again among Tesla followers and in the wide world of cryptocurrency.
Currently, Tesla’s online store only supports purchases with credit cards, and at this moment, the company has declined to comment officially on when or if Dogecoin may return, for which reason it axed it in the first place.
Environmental Concerns and Crypto
Tesla’s vacillation on cryptocurrency transactions raises another deeper question about its position on environmental impact. In 2021, Musk announced that Tesla would “most likely” return to Bitcoin transactions when the mining process involved more renewable energy. The statement highlighted an emerging chasm between Tesla’s objective to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” and the massive amounts of energy needed to mine cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
The energy-intensive nature of cryptocurrency transactions has been criticized by environmentalists and some investors as this goes against Tesla’s mission on clean energy. Musk’s sudden advocacy for cryptocurrencies-despite their impacts on the environment-had thus been a contentious issue.
Legal Drama Surrounding Dogecoin
Musk’s latest statements follow on the heels of a recent legal victory for the them head, who had a lawsuit dismissed accusing him of manipulating the price of Dogecoin to reap a personal profit. The lawsuit claimed that Musk’s action artificially inflated the cryptocurrency by 36,000%, only to later have those prices collapse and wipe out huge swaths of investors’ money.
The plaintiff said it was a “Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme.” However, the judge maintained that Musk’s statements were mere “aspirational and puffery, not concrete investment advice.” The judge’s ruling of the case may have actually given Musk more ammunition to continue publicly hyping Dogecoin out in the public sphere. This could even suggest that DOGE might be back as a means of payment on Tesla’s platform.
Will Dogecoin Return to Tesla?
The dismissal of the lawsuit may clear the way for Dogecoin to return to them list of accepted forms of payment, but that is not certain. It’s not known if Dogecoin will once more be allowed to purchase them merchandise in support of the canine-themed virtual currency. As things progress, all eyes are on Musk and Tesla in hopes that he will take Dogecoin back into his electric vehicle giant’s choices for payments.
