Musk: Tesla to accept cryptocurrency Dogecoin for merchandise

Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that Tesla would accept dogecoin, a popular cryptocurrency, for Tesla merchandise.

“Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes,” the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder said in a tweet. 

Following the announcement, Dogecoin’s value went up to $0.20, according to Reuters. 

The news service noted that Dogecoin had increased by 5,859 percent in the last year, in part thanks to the support of Musk, who has called it the “people’s crypto.”

But its value fell in May after Musk called it a “hustle” while he was hosting “Saturday Night Live.”

That comment came after he called the cryptocurrency “an unstoppable financial vehicle that’s going to take over the world.”  

While Tesla sells items ranging from “Giga Texas” belt buckles to miniature models of its vehicles, Musk did not specify which merchandise could be purchased using the cryptocurrency, Reuters added.

Musk on Monday was named Time magazine’s 2021 “Person of the Year,” a decision that was met with some criticism. 

Time announced that Musk received the honor for “creating solutions to an existential crisis, for embodying the possibilities and perils of the age of tech titans and for driving society’s most daring and disruptive transformations.”  

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) was among those critical of the decision. Jayapal sent out a fundraising email on Monday saying Musk was “the richest person in the world and yet he avoids paying his taxes while working families struggle to put food on the table and pay rent.”