Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk has ruffled enough feathers with his fervent tweets on cryptocurrency that a group has launched a whole new project aimed simply at putting an end to his alleged market manipulation. Benzinga talked to the people behind StopElon (STOPELON) on their ambitious plans to oust Musk as the CEO of Tesla and "rid the world of cryptocurrency manipulation."
Simple Visceral Emotion: “We are simply cryptocurrency investors who saw significant losses in our portfolio the day Elon Musk stated that Tesla is not accepting Bitcoin as payment,” Daniel, the co-founder of StopElon, told Benzinga.
Daniel disclosed that the project was created “from an initial burst of frustration” but they had not imagined “such a roadmap and ambitious goals from the beginning.”
StopElon “has been built from a simple visceral emotion into a real movement to fight against market manipulation.”
StopElon traded 17.5% lower at $0.00001734 at press time on Sunday, as per CoinGecko data. The top market for the coin is PancakeSwap (v2).
Why Target Musk Particularly? Cryptocurrency markets can crash for a variety of reasons. In the recent past they have fallen after Chinese regulators announced measures to restrict mining and a slew of other negative news, so why pick on Musk alone?
“We’re focused on Elon Musk because he is apparently flip-flopping on his position and [reveling] in the price impacts he’s having as if it is a joke,” said the StopElon spokesperson.
The project illustrated their point with Musk propelling Dogecoin (DOGE) to the fifth spot among cryptocurrencies and then calling it a “hustle” on television.
See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)
“This is clear manipulation for amusement’s sake, not price impact from real changing market conditions.”
The group also pointed to Tesla selling Bitcoin (BTC) $272 million worth of Bitcoin in the first quarter as a second example of “manipulation.”
The StopElon spokesperson said that the sale came just two weeks prior to Tesla withdrawing Bitcoin purchases for vehicles. “It’s important to note this contradictory behavior is all coming from a single individual.”
It is important to note that Musk cited the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels” for Bitcoin mining and transactions on Twitter as a reason for Tesla’s stopping payments in the apex cryptocurrency.
Et Tu, Musk? “There’s a very real feeling of betrayal with Elon Musk,” Daniel told Benzinga.
“A lot of people entered the space because of him posting rockets and moons related to crypto. He suddenly changed sides which caused a lot of people who idolized him pain.”
See Also: Is Elon Musk's Influence On Dogecoin Price Waning?
“Despite this he continues to laugh at crashing prices and people’s suffering as if it is a joke,” lamented the co-founder of the project.
Is the anger towards Musk justified? Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus explained it as people's tendency "to get very emotional when crypto investing and it is very volatile.”
Markus told Benzinga that “people who own crypto tend to get excited about it and want to talk about it, regular or celebrity investors.”
A Dose Of Regulation Perhaps? If cryptocurrencies are being manipulated, why not turn to the watchdogs? StopElon told Benzinga that global regulatory oversight will (not?) stop market manipulation.
“It’s difficult to eliminate manipulation through regulation in any case as the stock market has shown.”
Stockpiling For Success: “The first and most important item is establishing an ongoing voting trust,” said Daniel. The project is discussing and designing this framework with its legal team.
“Once complete it is our hope that anyone can 'stake' their share’s voting power with our project. This should allow anyone who owns shares of Tesla to give us the voting rights without us needing to worry about the tax and custodial issues of share ownership.”
Another approach that compliments the first strategy is to use the project’s marketing wallet to purchase several shares of the automaker and add them to the trust.
The project reckons they would need a neutral third party to act as a custodian of shares to address concerns such as where shares are held and who owns them, taxes, gains and what happens to the proceeds once shares are sold among others.
The project said it is not yet ready to announce the “precise structure or timeline” of its share purchases and staking. “So this is speculative, but states our intended goal,” as per the StopElon co-founder.
The Clock Is Ticking: So how long will it take for StopElon to achieve its goals? Benzinga inquired about the sense of urgency to stop the new “bad boy of crypto.”
“We’re looking at the long term here, and there’s no reason to believe that our ambitions will be irrelevant by the time we achieve them,” said Daniel.
See Also: 'WeLoveYouElon' Trends On US Twitter As Elon Musk Dogecoin Fans Look To Counter Bitcoin Critics
StopElon said that since cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies are still in early phases, they believe they are here to stay and they would “more relevant than ever” by the time it achieves critical mass or enough shares to oust Musk or stop his tweets.
Musk, Pluto, or Bust: So the people at StopElon have set high goals. One aim is to take over 2/3 of Tesla’s shares and another is flying to Pluto.
“This is incredibly ambitious, but it is absolutely possible,” said the project’s rep.
Who better to draw inspiration than from their bête noire. Quoting Musk who said, “the most entertaining outcome is often the most likely,” the spokesperson said, “What could be more entertaining than an originally meme focused protest token literally taking over one of the most forward-thinking energy companies on the planet?”
Photo by Daniel Oberhaus on Flickr
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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