Dogecoin Jumps After Elon Musk Tweets Tesla Merchandise 'Buyable' With the Token

Meme-based cryptocurrency Dogecoin jumped on Friday after Tesla chief Elon Musk said the electric carmaker will accept it as payment for merchandise.

"Tesla merch buyable with Dogecoin," Musk tweeted.

His mid-December tweet saying such use of Dogecoin will be allowed on a test basis sent the cryptocurrency up more than 20 percent. Dogecoin price in India stood at Rs. 15.02 as of 4:30pm IST on January 14.

Dogecoin, popular among retail investors, raced up 18 percent to above $0.2 (roughly Rs. 14) after Friday's tweet.

Musk's tweets on the cryptocurrency, including the one where he called it the "people's crypto", buoyed the meme coin and caused it to soar roughly 4,000 percent in 2021.

In other Tesla-related news, Musk tweeted on January 13 that Tesla is "still working through a lot of challenges with the government" in India. Musk said this in response to a question on when it would launch its electric cars in the country.

Tesla had plans to begin selling imported cars in India last year and has been lobbying the government to slash import taxes on electric vehicles (EVs) before it enters the market. In October, it took its demands to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office.

Musk didn't identify the "challenges" being worked on in his Twitter post.

© Thomson Reuters 2022