It is no secret in the cryptocurrency world, but also probably in the tech world, that Elon Musk has boundless love for Dogecoin. While he had suspended support for Bitcoin payments for his Tesla cars, Elon Musk had then said that Tesla would support payments in DOGE, the Dogecoin Blockchain coin.
Using his influence on social networks without any sense of responsibility, Elon Musk also often has fun posting tweets in favor of Dogecoin. This can be memes showing him with the Dogecoin emblem, or texts saying that Dogecoin is the people’s currency.
This passion for Dogecoin frequently causes Pump & Dump movements in the DOGE price. Much like what he tried to do apparently in early 2021 with the price of Bitcoin. And this is just something that could cost Elon Musk dearly.
Plaintiffs are now accusing Elon Musk of manipulating the DOGE price with his irresponsible tweets and are demanding no less than $258 billion from him!
Even if his fortune is currently estimated at more than 270 billion dollars, Elon Musk doesn’t have enough cash to pay such a fine if he were to be condemned, and this is all the more important since he will soon start a trial against Twitter, the outcome of which could cost him 44 billion dollars if he were to honor his deal by buying Twitter
Before going any further, those who follow Elon Musk, but are not interested in the world of cryptocurrencies, might need a little reminder.
So what is Dogecoin?
In 2013, Dogecoin was, according to its inventors, born from a simple joke. It is indeed a fusion between two memes of the time: Doge, a Shiba known on the Internet, and Bitcoin, which was then still far from its current valuation. The cryptocurrency, whose code is available in open source, is created to be easily accessible to the greatest number but remains relatively behind other behemoths of the sector.
Until, in early 2021, Elon Musk tweeted his love for the crypto.
A statement later followed by the announcement that it would be possible to buy some Tesla products on Dogecoin. But in May 2021, the billionaire participated in the cult show Saturday Night Live. In one of the sketches, he plays a financial analyst who describes Dogecoin as a “scam”. Its price collapses immediately.
Today, it is worth less than 10% of the value it had at the time, its historical peak:
What exactly is Elon Musk accused of?
On the dock is the boss of Tesla, but he is accompanied by several of his companies: the brand of electric cars, as well as The Boring Company or Space X, its space tourism company.
According to a complaint, the value of Dogecoin would have been deliberately inflated, experiencing 36,000% growth in one year.
A value that, according to the plaintiffs, was, however, only based on intense marketing campaigns, and plunged when the South African entrepreneur lost interest in this cryptocurrency. He is now accused of having earned tens of billions of dollars in what some do not hesitate to call a pyramid scheme.
The prosecution is now trying to prove that Elon Musk knew as early as 2019 that Dogecoin had no intrinsic value, but continued to promote it for his benefit. His status as the richest man in the world as well as his Twitter account (already pinned by the American Financial Markets Authority for manipulating the Tesla share price) is indeed a formidable sounding board to engage in such an operation.
Elon Musk has more than 105 million followers on Twitter. With great power comes great responsibility, but Elon Musk doesn’t seem to be buying into the line that Uncle Ben Parker reveals to Spider-Man before he dies
While the prosecution is seeking reparations for those harmed, it doesn’t stop there. The plaintiffs also want Dogecoin investing to be legally considered gambling, and Musk’s companies to be permanently banned from promoting it.
This complaint is unlikely to succeed, but it should add to the ever-growing controversy that now surrounds the world’s richest man Elon Musk.
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