If you’re wondering why Dogecoin’s value has gone up 25% in the last nine days, here’s a clue: On the 14th of December, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, announced that some of the company’s products would be available for purchase using memecoin Dogecoin.
Doge’s origin story: A memecoin is a cryptocurrency associated with a meme or parody. Dogecoin, created in 2013, is based on a famous Japanese meme dog.
Musk has also been a long-time crypto enthusiast and fan of Dogecoin for quite some time. While giving his TIME Magazine’s 2021 person of the year speech, Musk emphasised his belief in Dogecoin: “even though it was created as a silly joke”, Dogecoin is well suited for transactions.
Musk’s Bitcoin era: Until May this year, the clean energy and electric vehicle company took Bitcoin as a form of payment. Elon announced on his Twitter account that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin because of its high energy consumption, which he noted goes against Tesla’s renewable and clean energy ethos (Dogecoin uses significantly less energy than Bitcoin).
The Tesla CEO said if Bitcoin were to become more environmentally friendly, the company would reconsider its position. He owns Bitcoin, so its value is not the issue.
What does this mean for Doge: Musk is a significant tech influencer, so it’s not surprising that Tesla’s Bitcoin era has been credited as one of the keys to the cryptocurrency’s early success, and the decision to end Bitcoin’s payments triggered a temporary, but intense, dip.
