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The embattled CEO of Twitter and Tesla isn’t known for measured takes and a sober public persona. However, Elon Musk doled out a piece of considered financial advice on Tuesday to crypto enthusiasts and fans of Dogecoin.
“I’m not advising anyone to buy crypto or bet the farm on Dogecoin,” he said while speaking virtually at a conference in London hosted by the Wall Street Journal.
The CEO’s words of caution to prospective investors in the cryptocurrency are a slight departure from Musk’s colorful—and legally fraught—history of boosting the token.
Created in late 2013, Dogecoin is arguably the first memecoin, or cryptocurrency that’s typically a joke and tool for speculation. As Dogecoin gained popularity—it now has a market capitalization of more than $10 billion and each is worth approximately seven cents—Musk joined in on the spectacle, even proclaiming himself the “Dogefather” during a sketch on Saturday Night Live.
Dogecoin lovers became Musk watchers, and when he posted a picture of his dog or tweeted about the cryptocurrency—he once said he would eat a Happy Meal if McDonald’s accepted the token as payment—the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization soared.
And in April, the “Chief Twit” briefly changed the logo of the social media application from a bird to a picture of a Shiba Inu, the breed of the dog featured in the Doge meme, causing the cryptocurrency’s price to soar.
In fact, Musk’s repeated allusions and apparent support of memecoin have prompted investors to file a class action lawsuit against him, accusing the CEO of running a scheme to boost Dogecoin’s price.
That hasn’t stopped, however, the Dogefather from supporting his beloved Doge.
At the conference on Tuesday, despite qualifying that he isn’t encouraging laypeople to invest in the token, he said that the coin is still his favorite since it has “the best humor” and “it has dogs.”
