Elon Musk Dismisses Bitcoin, Announces Tesla Will Accept DOGE for ‘Merch’

Elon Musk says Bitcoin is a popular choice among investors because each token currently amounts to a large amount of fiat currency.

Advertisement
By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 14 December 2021 17:51 IST
Highlights
  • Elon Musk grabs another opportunity to drum up meme-based Dogecoin
  • Says Bitcoin is better as a holding asset
  • Musk made the Tesla-DOGE announcement via a tweet

Elon Musk is an avid Dogecoin supporter and is known to hype up DOGE against Bitcoin and Ether

Photo Credit: Twitter/ Dogecoin

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been named Time Magazine's “Person of the Year”. During an interview with the publication, crypto-enthusiast said that meme-based Dogecoin is much better than Bitcoin for everyday payments. As per the multi-billionaire, Bitcoin, which is the world's most valued cryptocurrency, is popular among investors because each token currently stores large amounts of fiat currency. For daily purchases, however, Musk says Dogecoin makes for a more favourable choice. He later tweeted to announce that Tesla will be accepting DOGE payments.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at around $50,553 (roughly Rs. 38 lakh), while the announcement about Tesla accepting Dogecoin payments for ‘merchandise' had DOGE price up by around 20 percent at $0.21 (roughly Rs. 16) per token.

Advertisement

The billionaire was known to have been in the process of integrating DOGE payments with Tesla car purchases under the pseudo name “SHIBA”. The company had already begun accepting Bitcoin payments earlier.

Bitcoin is not a good substitute for transactional currency. Even though it was created as a silly joke, Dogecoin is better suited for transactions. The total transaction flow that you do with Dogecoin, like transactions per day, is much higher potential than Bitcoin,” Musk said during the Time's interview.

Advertisement

The verified Twitter account of the Dogecoin posted a clipping of Musk's interview, thanking the tech mogul for “dropping some straight facts” about the dog-coin.

Musk's endorsement of Dogecoin is everything but new.

Advertisement

Earlier this month, the 50-year-old global business tycoon had hyped up Dogecoin against Ether, which is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. Ether is also the second most valued cryptocurrency in terms of valuation, currently trading at $4,039 (roughly Rs. 3 lakh) per token, as per the Gadgets 360 crypto price tracker.

In October, the Tesla CEO had called Dogecoin “the people's crypto”.

Recently, US-based movie theatre chain AMC Theatres listed DOGE as an official payment option for gift card purchases.


Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
 

Also seeCryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Oppo Reno 16 Series Limited Edition Phone to Launch in India Soon
  2. New 'Ambitious' Far Cry Game Reportedly Enters Development at Ubisoft
  3. Inside Oppo India's Strategy for a Saturated, High-ASP Smartphone Market
  4. Nothing Tipped to Enter Smartwatch Market With New Wearable
  5. You Can Now Browse Threads, Use Muse Spark on Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses
  1. Google Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL Price, Battery Capacities Leaked Online
  2. Claude Artifacts Found in Google Search, Raising Fresh Privacy Concerns
  3. Banks in Hong Kong Brace for Quantum Risks During Tokenisation Expansion
  4. WhatsApp Adds Status Caption Editing Feature for Android Beta Testers: Report
  5. Samsung Galaxy A08 4G, Galaxy M08, and Galaxy F08 Surface in New Listings
  6. Resident Evil Requiem Sales Cross 8 Million Copies as Pragmata Surpasses 2.5 Million Units, Capcom Confirms
  7. Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Updated With Ability to Browse Threads, Use Meta AI’s Muse Spark and More
  8. Microsoft Introduces Project Perception as a New Agentic Security System to Protect Against AI-Powered Cyberattacks
  9. Huawei Nova 16 SE Leak Reveals Design, Price, and Key Specifications Ahead of Launch
  10. Honor Band 11 Series Opens for Pre-Orders in China With New Pro GPS Model
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.