Creating a furore with his views on cryptocurrency with tweets, Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday (May 16) explained why he wants to 'go all in on Doge'.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency invented by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system. Nearly 113 billion coins have already been mined.
Amid the surge in Bitcoin and Ether cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin has surged more than 659 per cent this year. Tesla recently announced it has invested $1.5 billion in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Elon Musk-run SpaceX is now accepting Dogecoin to launch an upcoming satellite named DOGE-1 to the Moon. According to reports, the satellite will be flown onboard a Falcon 9 rocket in the first quarter of 2022. DOGE-1 is a cubesat to acquire "lunar-spatial intelligence" using onboard cameras and sensors.
"SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year. – Mission paid for in Doge – 1st crypto in space – 1st meme in space. To the mooooonnn!!" read a rather excited tweet from the billionaire businessman. With the post, he shared the "official Dogecoin song".
Creating own cryptocurrency 'big pain'
After applying brakes on Bitcoin as a payment mode to buy Tesla vehicles, Elon Musk on Sunday (May 16) revealed that he might create his own cryptocurrency in the near future.
A Twitter user asked the Tesla head why is he not creating his own cryptocurrency. "Why not just make a crypto from scratch that does everything you want technically and has a lot of dev support and doesn't have high concentration of ownership at least initially?" a user asked Musk on Saturday. "Only if Doge can't do it. Big pain in the neck to create another one," Musk replied.
Musk has announced not to use the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin as a payment mode to buy its electric vehicles, citing environmental harm. Musk said that the electric car maker will not sell any bitcoin and intends to use bitcoin for transactions as soon as mining moves to more sustainable energy.
Cryptocurrency falls
Ether declined to its lowest since May 5. It fell about 8 percent to $3,296.10 while the Bitcoin fell around 6.6 percent to $43,117.23 on Bitstamp exchange--its lowest since February 28.
