Elon Musk Targeted by 'StopElon,' 'F***Elon' Crypto Coins Over Market Influence

Cryptocurrency tokens that exist solely to protest against Elon Musk's apparent market influence have been launched.

One such token, $STOPELON, is currently worth $0.000015 with a market capitalization of around $8 million, though this is likely to change quickly. Another, $F***ELON, is worth around $1.67 with a market cap of just under $150,000.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is thought to be influential over the price of some cryptocurrency tokens. Dogecoin, the meme token that was launched as a joke in 2013, made headlines this year partly buoyed by Musk's support.

But while some of Musk's announcements—such as that he plans to put Dogecoin on the moon—have coincided with price rises, others have been linked to big price dips.

Last week, Musk announced that Tesla would no longer be accepting bitcoin, the world's most prominent cryptocurrency, as payment for vehicles. The price of bitcoin fell more than 10 percent afterwards, the BBC reported.

It marked a change in course for the company, which in February revealed it had made a bitcoin investment worth $1.5 billion.

Musk posted a statement on Twitter that voiced concerns about "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions."

On Monday, Musk took to Twitter to clarify that Tesla had not sold any of its bitcoin despite no longer accepting it as payment, after speculation it had done so.

Meanwhile, the price of Dogecoin tanked—as much as 29.5 percent according to CNBC—after Musk featured it in his hotly anticipated Saturday Night Live appearance. Enthusiasts had hoped the price would instead have soared.

Matt Levine, an financial opinion columnist for Bloomberg, wrote on Monday that Musk "definitely has the power to move Bitcoin and Dogecoin prices whenever he feels like it."

In any case, a statement on the $STOPELON website says Musk is "infamous for irresponsibly manipulating the cryptocurrency market with his Twitter account." The team plans to eventually gain "full control of Tesla stock" after becoming more prominent.

And the team behind the $F***ELON token state that their goal is to have the value of the token surpass the stock price of Tesla—currently around $576.

The team plans to do this by using influencers and paid groups as well as spreading the token around social media.

YouTuber Logan Paul tweeted about the token yesterday, writing: "$F***ELON to the moon before he ever gets there. (Not financial advice.)"

Experts have previously warned Newsweek about the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrency.