At this point in time, Elon Musk's love for Dogecoin seems to be undisputable fact. Not only does the Tesla chief tweet his praise frequently, but even one word posts that offer no extra input are apparently enough to send prices soaring. But now, it would seem that his efforts have struck a problematic chord with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now, in case you're uncertain about what Dogecoin might be, allow us to explain first. It is a cryptocurrency that was created as a joke of sorts. Dogecoin was inspired by the meme of a smiling Shiba Inu and features the face of the dog on symbolic representations. In the words of its maker, it was "created for sillies" and something that was never really expected to take off.
Fast forward to 2021, and DogeCoin has grown to several hundred times its original value, reaching a market capitalization worth billions of dollars and drawing eyeballs from many including Elon Musk. Asked by a Twitter user as to why he loved Dogecoin so much, the SpaceX CEO recently explained: "I love dogs and memes".
"Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler," the world's second richest man tweeted earlier in February. 'Lil X' incidentally is a reference to his young son, X Æ A-Xii.
"Literally," he wrote sharing a picture of the meme-famous dog in an astronaut's suit planting a dogecoin flag on the moon.
Musk's tweets can have a massive impact on the stock market. And so, his frequent praise of dogecoin has led to prices rising manifold. Not only this, but his recent call to action for major Dogecoin holders to "sell most of their coins" was also taken seriously. Musk sought to reduce concentration of dogecoin, and soon after this, the cryptocurrency was down by around 9%.
Now, reports suggest that Musk might be facing an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission. While it remains unconfirmed yet, his frequent and influential posts do not appear to have gone down well with the authorities. The news has been shared by several platforms quoting unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that Elon Musk has found himself in trouble with the SEC. His 2019 tweet about taking Tesla private for example had led to the agency charging him with securities fraud.
The business leader however appears to be unfazed. Reacting to a Twitter remark on the same Musk expressed hope that the SEC would indeed continue his investigation into "dog memes".
"I hope they do! It would be awesome," Musk replied adding laughing emojis.
