The stormy CEO of Twitter and Tesla is not renowned for his measured opinions and composed demeanor in public. Elon Musk gave Dogecoin supporters and crypto aficionados some thoughtful financial advice on Tuesday.
He mentioned this while participating online in a conference in London that the Wall Street Journal was hosting. I’m not telling someone to buy cryptocurrency or stake their entire future on Dogecoin, he declared.
The CEO’s warnings to potential cryptocurrency investors mark a small change from Musk’s colorful—and legally risky—history of promoting the coin.
The first meme coin, or cryptocurrency often used as a joke and trading tool, was probably Dogecoin, launched in late 2013. Musk joined the show as Dogecoin became more well-known—it has a market capitalization of over $10 billion, each worth about seven cents. It even dubbed himself the “Dogefather” in a Saturday Night Live parody.
Dogecoin’s market capitalization increased whenever Musk tweeted about the cryptocurrency or shared a photo of his dog. He once suggested consuming a Happy Meal if McDonald’s accepted the token as payment.
And in April, the “Chief Twit” temporarily altered the social media platform’s emblem from a bird to an image of a Shiba Inu, the breed of dog that appears in the Doge meme, which sent the value of the cryptocurrency skyrocketing.
In reality, investors have filed a class action lawsuit against Musk, alleging the CEO directed a conspiracy to increase Dogecoin’s value due to his constant references to and apparent support for the meme coin.
The Dogefather has, however, continued to defend his beloved Doge despite this.
At the conference on Tuesday, he claimed that the coin is still his favorite because it has “the best humor” and “it has dogs,” but he did clarify that he isn’t advising laypeople to buy the token.
