Lawsuit: Elon Musk Denies Asking Anyone to Invest in Cryptocurrencies
Amidst a $258 billion lawsuit against him, Tesla Chief Exec Elon Musk says he has never advised anyone to invest in blockchain-powered cryptocurrencies. The founder and CEO of the American electric car company made this known today in a virtual interview in the ongoing Qatar Economic Forum with John Micklethwait, Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief.
The market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has dropped more than two-thirds from its peak period due to the selling down of digital assets by retail investors amidst a bloodbath. A large number of investors have seen their investments moving near zero.
In Africa, a large number of cryptoassets investors are taking the reverse decision to put their money in the seemingly most risky investment plays ever. READ: Twitter: Shareholder Files Lawsuit to Stop Musk’s $44bln Buyout
According to Musk, despite not advising anyone to invest in cryptocurrencies, he and his company hold some units of Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE), which he explained represent a small percentage of the company’s total cash reserve. He also confirmed again that he personally supports Dogecoin.
“I have never said that people should invest in crypto. In the case of Tesla, SpaceX, and myself, we all did buy some Bitcoin, but it’s a small percentage of our total cash assets, I also bought Dogecoin and Tesla accepts Dogecoin for merchandise and I intend to personally support Dogecoin.” Musk was quoted as saying in the interview.
Musk Sued for Promoting Dogecoin
Recalled that a U.S.-based man slammed Musk with a $258 billion lawsuit for the role he played in promoting Dogecoin to the public. On several occasions, the popular tech mogul has thrown his weight behind Dogecoin on Twitter, where he has a huge following of nearly 100 million users.
Musk’s constant support of Dogecoin contributed to the massive growth of the cryptocurrency, which soared as high as $0.73 early last year. However, the token’s value is currently a shadow of itself, as it has plunged massively by over 90% since it peaked at $0.73.
DOGE is trading around $0.06 at the time of writing this line, data on cryptocurrency aggregator platform CoinGecko shows.
The plaintiff, Keith Johnson, noted that Musk was instrumental in promoting Dogecoin to the public, a token that he described in the lawsuit as a “pyramid scheme.” Johnson said he will be representing global Dogecoin investors who have also suffered significant losses investing in the cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s description of Dogecoin as a pyramid scheme did not go down well with DOGE’s co-creator Billy Marcus. In a Twitter thread yesterday, Marcus said if people consider DOGE a pyramid scheme, then the same title should be used to describe all financial instruments, including stocks, commodities, and the entire crypto market among others.
Tesla currently holds a total of 42,902 Bitcoin, which was acquired at an aggregate sum of $1.32 billion. Elon also confirmed that His SpaceX Merch is to Accept Dogecoin Soon. #Lawsuit: Elon Musk Denies Asking Anyone to Invest in Cryptocurrencies
