Elon Musk – the man behind Tesla and SpaceX – has announced that his latter company is going to accept Dogecoin payments for merchandise and other products.
Elon Musk Clearly Likes Dogecoin
This is the second time Musk has said “yes” to Dogecoin payments for merchandise related to his businesses. Not long ago, the South African billionaire and entrepreneur announced that those interested in using Doge to purchase Tesla-themed hats, clothing, and other products could do so. Musk has always had a thing for Dogecoin, and in the past, he’s even referred to it as the “people’s crypto.”
Not long ago, Musk announced:
Tesla merch can be bought with Doge. Soon, SpaceX merch too.
The move is pushing the goals of crypto closer to being achieved. What many people likely forget is that while bitcoin and many of its digital cousins have taken on either speculative or even hedge-like statuses in recent years, many of them were initially designed to serve as payment tools. They were built to push checks, credit cards, and fiat currencies to the side, but this has been a relatively slow journey given the volatility that continues to drag them down.
It is extremely hard to understand when bitcoin and its crypto family will go up or down in terms of their prices. Many stores and companies have been reluctant to say “yes” when it comes to accepting crypto payments for this reason, and to a degree, we can’t blame them.
Consider the following scenario: someone walks into a store and buys $50 worth of merchandise with bitcoin. For one reason or another, the store doesn’t trade the BTC into fiat right away and about 24 hours go by. From there, the price of BTC goes down and that $50 becomes $40. The customer gets to keep everything he or she bought, but the store has lost money in the end. Is this a fair situation? Not everyone thinks so.
That’s what makes enterprises like SpaceX important. They understand the initial purposes of digital currencies and are trying to transform them into usable tools that everyday people can benefit from.
Still No Bitcoin?
Clearly, Musk is an even bigger fan of Doge than he is of bitcoin despite the latter being so much more powerful. The fact that he is willing to permit Doge payments but initially turned his back on BTC payments says a lot.
It wasn’t always this way. In early 2021, the entrepreneur announced that bitcoin could be utilized by traders to purchase Tesla vehicles. The currency rose in price, and all was right with the world until a few weeks later when he rescinded the decision, claiming he was worried about the energy being used to mine crypto and the effects it would have on the planet.
