Cryptocurrency with shiba inu dog meme rises 15% after billionaire’s tweet about merchandise
Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency with a shiba inu dog meme, rose in value by 15% on Friday after billionaire Elon Musk said it could be used to buy Tesla merchandise.
Dogecoin climbed to $ 0.20 after Musk’s tweet earlier Friday, and is up 5.859% over the past 12 months, according to data from the Coinbase website.
Payments in dogecoin were posted on Tesla’s website soon after, with items such as a children’s electric quad priced at 12,020 doge ($ 2,368; £ 1,735) for those on more modest budgets a “Giga Texas Belt Buckle”, for 835 doge ($ 156). ) or a whistle for 300 doge ($57).
Tesla merch buyable with Dogecoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 14, 2022Musk, who frequently writes about cryptocurrencies on Twitter and has previously described dogecoin as “the people’s crypto”, had said in December that Tesla would soon test accepting dogecoin as payment for some merchandise.
However, he had called dogecoin a “hustle” during his guest-host spot on Saturday Night Live in May 2021. On the show, Musk appeared as “the Dogefather” and when asked to explain “what is dogecoin?”, he replied: “Yeah, it’s a hustle.”
Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 14, 2021
Chris Kline, a co-founder of the investment firm Bitcoin IRA, said: “Elon Musk has been an advocate for the crypto community for many years. His latest announcement will usher in a new era of commerce and trailblaze a path for altcoins to expand their use case.”
Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated $264bn fortune, was named Time magazine’s person of the year for 2021 despite criticism for his attitude to tax, opposition to unions, and playing down the dangers of Covid-19.
Describing him as a “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman”, Time cited the breadth of Musk’s endeavours, from his founding of SpaceX in 2002, to his hand in the creation of the alternative energy company SolarCity in addition to Tesla, by far the most valuable car company in the world.
