Tesla is now accepting Dogecoin payments for merchandise. The news was made official late last week when billionaire CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s decision on Twitter.
Dogecoin Is a Powerhouse Cryptocurrency
Dogecoin’s price has since shot up by more than 12 percent. As it stands, not all items are subjectable to Dogecoin purchases. Thus far, the only two items that users can purchase with Doge are Tesla-brand belt buckles and all-terrain vehicles for children, which are sold out at the time of writing. In addition, the rules run a little strict, as any Dogecoin transactions cannot be refunded, so customers are advised to be sure that they’re walking the right purchase path before handing over their hard-earned crypto.
While this is a small step forward in many respects, the news is solid in that a prime cryptocurrency is now being used for what it was designed for: payments. What many people may not know is that bitcoin and several of its altcoin cousins were initially designed to take over the world of payments and knock things like fiat currencies, checks, and credit cards to the side. All traditional payment methods would be outdone by crypto, but the journey has been slow given that many of these assets tend to be rather volatile and can swing up or down at a moment’s notice.
Thus, many businesses have said “no” to accepting crypto payments due to fear that they may lose profit. This moves the world of crypto in the right direction and suggests that even the strangest of digital assets – in this case, Doge – can accomplish big things.
Dogecoin was an asset that was never meant to be taken seriously. Initially started as a joke, the currency has surged in popularity over the past year or so largely due to marketing and promotion from Musk, who has seemingly become a big fan. He has referred to it as the “people’s crypto” in the past, and there was even a rumor some time ago that Musk was going to serve as the currency’s new CEO, though this later turned out to be simple internet fodder.
Beating out the Big Daddy…
Either way, Dogecoin has beaten out bitcoin in the sense that there was a time when Tesla was all set to accept BTC as a method of payment for electric vehicles. This caused the world’s number one digital currency to spike to a whopping $57,000 per unit early in 2021, the highest it had ever been at that time. All was right with the world in traders’ eyes until just a few weeks later when Musk rescinded the decision, stating that he was concerned about the amount of energy bitcoin mining used and what it was doing to the planet.
Late last year, Dogecoin rose to briefly become the fourth largest cryptocurrency.
