Elon Musk's growing promotion of Dogecoin has got many avid cryptocurrency investors wondering if Tesla accepts Dogecoin as a payment method.
Originally created as a joke, the currency has recently exploded in popularity and price, with Musk frequently tweeting about Dogecoin as it nears the lucrative $1 mark. After Musk's appearance on SNL in early May in which he described the currency as a "hustle", the cryptocurrency saw a large dip, dropping under the $0.5 mark, before briefly rising once again.
READ MORE: Why is Elon Musk promoting DogeCoin?
Given Musk's discussions of Dogecoin, does his company Tesla accept the cryptocurrency? Here's all you need to know.
Does Tesla accept Dogecoin?
As of May 2021, Dogecoin investors are unable to pay for Tesla cars and product with the cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin remains a fairly new cryptocurrency that has only just surged in price and popularity. meaning very few storefronts or companies currently accept the currency as a payment method.
Of course, this policy could change in the future, much like the fluctuating price of Dogecoin, too. A petition to get Tesla to accept Dogecoin has currently gained over 500 signatures, although one can question the motive behind this. Given it states "we can get this coin to be the next Bitcoin" and the payment method change would "send Dogecoin to the moon", it may be more motivated by the rising price of Dogecoin, rather than its position as a legitimate currency to purchase Tesla cars from.
However, Musk's other company, SpaceX, recently announced that it will accept Dogecoin as a payment method. SpaceX accepted a Dogecoin payment from the Geometric Energy Corporation, launching the "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon". Is this Musk's way of compensating for Doge's drop?
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Does Tesla accept cryptocurrency?
Up until May 2021, you could buy Tesla products with Bitcoin. The iconic cryptocurrency was perhaps deemed more stable than the meme currency, and is also supported by numerous other companies across the globe.
While the company originally planned to expand Bitcoin support outside of the United States into other markets, this seems unlikely now. On May 12, Musk announced on Twitter that Tesla would no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method, citing the environmental damage of the cryptocurrency and its mining.
Musk also stated they are "looking at other cryptocurrencies" that use less energy than Bitcoin. Could this be Dogecoin? It's a possibility. As reported in The Independent, DogeCoin uses just 0.0079KWh per transaction, compared to Bitcoin's 707 KWh.
We'll update this page with new information as it comes out (most likely from Elon Musk's Twitter account).
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