Musk, Intentional Dogecoin Promotion?...Just One Day After Suspending Bitcoin Payments

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has sparked criticism by posting a tweet supporting Dogecoin just one day after declaring the suspension of Bitcoin payments for Tesla car purchases.

On the 13th (local time), Musk tweeted, "We are working with Dogecoin developers to improve system transaction efficiency," adding, "It is potentially promising."

Immediately after Musk's tweet was posted, Dogecoin surged by up to 20%.

This came just one day after he announced via Twitter that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin for vehicle purchases.

As a result, some have pointed out that Musk may be intentionally promoting Dogecoin. In particular, since Musk mentioned improving the efficiency of the Dogecoin transaction system, there is speculation that he may be considering Dogecoin as a virtual currency to replace Bitcoin.

This is not the first time Musk has promoted Dogecoin. Since early this year, Musk has frequently posted memes supporting Dogecoin, and in February, he revealed that he bought Dogecoin for his son.

Musk has even referred to himself as the "Dogefather" (the father of Dogecoin). On the 8th, he appeared on NBC's flagship comedy program "Saturday Night Live (SNL)" and mentioned Dogecoin. Around the time of Musk's broadcast appearance, Dogecoin's price showed significant volatility. On the 9th, he announced that SpaceX, his private space exploration company, plans to pay the mission cost for the "DOGE-1 lunar mission" in Dogecoin.

Following Musk's tweet promoting Dogecoin, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, was immediately affected, with the price jumping from $0.43 to $0.52, a 20.9% increase, according to major foreign media.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.