During a visit to the Berlin gigafactory, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla TSLA and SpaceX, hinted that Dogecoin DOGE/USD could eventually be accepted as payment for buying Tesla vehicles.
What Happened: Musk was responding to questions at an employee-packed venue when he said, “Well, you know, at some point, I think we should enable that. You can buy Tesla Merch with DOGE, which is cool.”
He then quipped with his signature phrase for the cryptocurrency, “Dogecoin to the moon.”
The video was first posted by a Twitter user @dogeofficialceo. Benzinga could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. Tesla did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.
Musk explained the reasons behind his support for the meme-based cryptocurrency, sharing an anecdote: "So, in fact, a lot of people maybe don’t know, the reason that I actually ended up sort of.. somewhat endorsing DOGE. I was walking around the factory at Tesla. Some people were just…working the line..and they said, Can you please support DOGE?”
Revealing similar requests from workers at SpaceX, it became clear why Musk has endorsed Dogecoin: “And I was like, you know what DOGE is the people’s crypto so I will support it.”
See More: Dogecoin HODLERs Are Beating Shiba Inu With 57% Landing In Profits, IntoTheBlock Data Reveals
Why It Matters: Musk’s latest visit to the German gigafactory, located in the state of Brandenburg, comes after operations were temporarily interrupted due to a power outage suspected to be caused by arson.
Despite the setback, images captured Musk’s cheerful entry, as he greeted employees and later expressed affection by proclaiming, “I love you,” in German. However, his attempts to engage further with the audience were somewhat thwarted by a musical interruption from a vehicle at the site.
Notably, Musk had been fairly quiet on the topic of Dogecoin since his last mention in April 2023, but his recent endorsement is significant given Dogecoin’s status as the 9th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, valued at nearly $26.9 billion.
Price Action: At the time of writing, DOGE was trading at $0.18, up 8.00% over the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Read Next: Here’s How Much You Should Invest In Shiba Inu Today For A $1M Payday If SHIB Hits 1 Cent?
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