When does a meme stop being just a meme? When the world's richest man effectively figures out how to influence people into selling their stock of a meme-currency.
Tesla CEO and SpaceX boss, Elon Musk, is that man. The meme-cryptocurrency is Dogecoin.
The billionaire on Sunday said that he supports major holders of the meme-based digital currency Dogecoin selling most of their coins, adding that he felt too much concentration in Dogecoin was the “real issue”.
"If major Dogecoin holders sell most of their coins, it will get my full support. Too much concentration is the only real issue imo," he said in a tweet.
If major Dogecoin holders sell most of their coins, it will get my full support. Too much concentration is the only real issue imo.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2021
But that wasn't all - he offered to pay 'actual dollar' for it.
I will literally pay actual $ if they just void their accounts— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2021
A well-known supporter of cryptocurrencies, Musk has weighed in regularly on the recent frenzy in retail investment, driving up prices of Dogecoin and shares of U.S. video game chain GameStop. Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla Inc revealed on Feb. 8 it had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars.
And it may have worked. According to Business Insider, Minutes after Musk’s tweet, Dogecoin rose sharply by 9%. However, it was down by over 9% as of 10:45 am on February 15.
This is not the first time that Elon Musk has thrown his weight behind the cryptocurrency. This is not even the second.
Just over a week ago, Musk consistently tweeting about the meme cryptocurrency led to the all-time-high $0.065448, up about 35% from its 24-hour low of $0.048356. The Shiba Inu-themed digital coin surpassed 8 cents for the first time, just a week after crashing to 2.5 cents and sparking an outcry on Reddit.
It then had a market value of US$10 billion (S$13.3 billion), making it the 8th-biggest cryptocurrency. This was followed shortly after Musk tweeted, 'Who let the Doge out,' a pun on the famous Baha Men's hit song 'Who let the dogs out?'
Musk had also posted a Twitter poll, asking his 45.8 million followers to choose "the future currency of Earth." He gave two options: "Dogecoin to the Moooonn" or "All other crypto combined."
The poll resulted in 71.3% of the 2.4 million voters saying that "Dogecoin to the Moooonn" would be the future of currency.