Elon Musk asks if Tesla should take dogecoin

Billionaire and cryptocurrency aficionado Elon Musk on Tuesday asked his 54-million followers on Twitter: “Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?”

He was referring to the digital currency that is worth roughly 48c and has no real world use.

The question, in the form of a Twitter poll, comes days after he called dogecoin a “hustle”, which sent the meme-inspired cryptocurrency’s price reeling after a 700% rally in a month.

A proponent of digital currencies, the Tesla CEO made the comment as guest-host spot on the Saturday Night Live comedy sketch TV show at the weekend. Musk, one of the richest people in the world and owner of several futuristic companies including SpaceX and NeuraLink, has used his candid Twitter feed to convey his opinion on cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, most times impacting their price.

Musk said in March that US customers could purchase Tesla vehicles with bitcoin, marking a significant step forward for the cryptocurrency’s use in commerce. The electric-car maker had bought $1.5bn worth of bitcoin earlier this year, propelling its prices to record highs.

Based on current prices, one would need nearly 80,000 dogecoins or 0.7 bitcoin to buy the cheapest Tesla Model 3 car.

Musk’s poll on dogecoin received more than 2-million responses in five hours since he posted it. Three out of four respondents voted to ratify the new payment method.

This comes just days after Musk said that SpaceX would accept dogecoin as payment to launch a lunar mission in 2022.

The limited supply of bitcoin helps to drive its value as the digital currency gradually gains acceptance for commercial transactions.

Dogecoin, which began as a social media joke in 2013 with a shiba inu dog as its avatar, has an unlimited supply and remains seldom used to make payments for goods.

On crypto data tracker CoinGecko.com, dogecoin jumped more than 700% over the past month and it is now the fourth-largest digital currency. It hit a record high on Thursday last week of more than $0.73.

The billionaire’s tweets have drawn US Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny in the past, but his recent remarks about cryptocurrencies have not landed in him in any regulatory troubles so far.

Tesla’s share price fell 4% in early trade after reports that the US electric car maker had halted plans to buy land to expand its Shanghai plant.