Dogecoin Could Be Making a Comeback as a Payment Option on Tesla's Website

Dogecoin, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk called his “fav cryptocurrency” back in 2019, could be making a comeback as a payment option on the electric vehicle

Elon Musk has expressed interest in bringing back Dogecoin as a payment option for certain merchandise on Tesla's website.

When a user on X.com, a social media platform owned by Musk, asked whether anyone would like Tesla to “reinstate the option of” bringing back the Dogecoin payment option for merchandise, the Tesla chief replied: “Me.”

Musk owns a majority of Tesla stock and is also the owner of X.com, which he acquired in 2022.

Currently, the Tesla store accepts only credit cards as a form of payment. It's unclear when or why Dogecoin stopped being an option.

The Austin, Texas-based company never broadly accepted Dogecoin for car payments, and there wasn’t a formal announcement about “removing” it as a payment option.

Musk, the environmentalist?

notable that — in 2021 — Musk posted that the company intends to “use [Bitcoin] for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy.”

See below.

Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin require vast amounts of electricity to process transactions and ensure the security of their respective networks.

Environmentalists and investors pointed out how the carbon footprint associated with cryptocurrency transactions appeared to be in conflict with Tesla's clean energy initiatives.

It’s also worth noting that Musk is a staunch supporter of former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, who pledges to roll back clean energy initiatives if re-elected.

Legal drama

Musk's affirmation for Dogecoin came less than 24 hours after a U.S. District Judge dismissed a federal lawsuit that accused the Tesla chief of defrauding investors through insider trading and market manipulation of Dogecoin.

The suit alleged that Musk misused his position as the world's richest man to inflate the price of Dogecoin by over “36,000%” and then let its price crash, causing losses for investors.

The plaintiffs argued that Musk's actions could be justified as a “Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme,” where he promoted the cryptocurrency to profit from the volatility he allegedly created.

The price of DOGE once reached an all-time high of $0.73 but has yet to reach those price levels again.

Hellerstein said any statements made about Dogecoin are “aspirational and puffery, not factual” and that “no reasonable investor could rely upon them” for making investment decisions.

The judge also found that the facts did not support the plaintiffs’ allegations of a “pump and dump” scheme, market manipulation, and insider trading, underlining that it was “not possible to understand the allegations that form the basis” of these claims.

Whether the Dogecoin lawsuit dismissal bodes well for Tesla fans to once again use the dog-themed coin as a payment option when buying, say, a Cybertruck t-shirt, remains to be seen.