Electric car maker Tesla is set to accept Dogecoin ($DOGE) payments for merchandise to “see how it goes,” according to the company’s CEO Elon Musk. The announcement saw the price of DOGE skyrocket as supporters piled in.
On social media, Musk announced the move to his over 66.3 million followers in a short tweet that quickly garnered a the crypto community’s attention.
Earlier this year, Musk notably asked his followers on the microblogging platform whether the electric car maker should accept the meme-inspired cryptocurrency as a payment method. At the time nearly 4 million people responded to Musk, with 78.2% saying Tesla should accept DOGE.
Over the past year, the cryptocurrency’s popularity exploded after several celebrities started tweeting about it. Musk, Kiss singer Gene Simmons, billionaire Mark Cuban, Snoop Dogg, and others have over time tweeted jokes about DOGE, fuelling its growth.
Musk’s poll on Tesla accepting DOGE payments helped the price of the cryptocurrency surge at the time, as did Musk’s announcement the company will make merch available to buy with DOGE.
Data shows that Dogecoin was trading sideways before Musk’s announcement, which led to a massive green candle. DOGE is up over 33% today because of the announcement.
Elon Musk has revealed earlier this year he personally invested in BTC, ETH, and DOGE. Tesla invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin earlier this year and despite making a small sale shortly after, it’s estimated to be up nearly $1 billion on the move. The company first started accepting BTC payments for cars as well, but soon dropped the option over environmental concerns.
Notably Musk has recently said he believes DOGE is better for transactions than Bitcoin, which he sees as a better store of value.
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The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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Featured image via Pixabay
