Elon Musk has announced that customers can use crypto – specifically Dogecoin – to purchase Tesla merchandise. At press time, it looks like bitcoin is still off the “accepted” list.
Elon Musk Paves the Way for Dogecoin Use
The news has caused Dogecoin’s price to shoot up by a whopping 20 cents at press time. Musk made the announcement on Twitter, writing:
Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge and see how it goes.
The news is a big deal considering how anti-crypto Musk was at one stage. The relationship between Tesla and crypto can be traced back to the beginning of the year when Musk initially announced that the company would be accepting bitcoin for electric car vehicles. This sent everyone into a positive frenzy. The price of bitcoin reached a new all-time high of about $57,000 per unit, and everyone thought this was the push the crypto world needed to become more mainstream and legitimate.
However, things didn’t last long considering just a few weeks later, Musk said he was rescinding the decision due to fears that bitcoin miners were not effectively using the energy they had access to and thus weren’t controlling their emissions. This resulted in bitcoin being kicked off the list, and many people expressed great anger at Musk for not sticking to his guns. The price of the world’s number one digital currency by market cap later incurred a significant drop.
Down the line, Musk hinted that his company would again be willing to accept crypto should miners be willing to utilize green energy on a more regular basis and they were able to share their emission data with the public. This is kind of where the buck stopped for a while, but now that Dogecoin can be utilized for assorted merchandise, perhaps bitcoin has a future with Tesla if the asset is willing to play its cards right.
Dogecoin has grown to become one of the most powerful digital currencies in the world. Over the last year alone, the currency has spiked by more than 5,000 percent largely due to support from the likes of Musk, who at one time even referred to the asset as “the people’s coin.” There was also a rumor several years ago that Musk was set to serve as the new CEO of the company, but this turned out to be simple internet fodder.
Not Everyone’s Happy about Elon’s Status
Tesla doesn’t just sell cars. It also sells belt buckles and other assorted items. At the time of writing, it is unclear which merchandise can be purchased using the altcoin.
Earlier in the week, Musk was announced as Time’s official “Person of the Year” for 2021. This has been met with some criticism from the likes of Pramila Jayapal, a democrat representative of Washington. Jayapal says that Musk has avoided paying taxes all these years while everyday families struggle to survive.
