Tesla is the first auto company in the world to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for its electric vehicles in the US and may also accept Dogecoin in a similar fashion. Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin, but with a Shiba Inu dog made from a meme as its logo.
Dogecoin was created by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a means of payment but was intended as a joke. It's no joke that Dogecoin has seen an amazing surge in value. And because there is no upper limit - as is the case with Bitcoin - there could be around 100 billion Dogecoins in circulation.
But why is Tesla more eager to accept this as a means of payment?
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, was a big proponent of Bitcoin and seems to be equally fond of Dogecoin. He recently asked his millions of followers on Twitter if Tesla should accept this as a form of payment. At the time of this writing - about 19 hours after Musk's tweet - an overwhelming 71% of respondents had confirmed it should be accepted.
For a cryptocurrency that emerged from a meme, was developed as a hoax, and was generally not received with much credibility until recently, Dogecoin has come to a fair distance. Market capitalization has grown from around $ 1 billion in early January this year to well over $ 45 billion by the end of April.
However, payments via cryptocurrency may not be very easy, also because these forms of currency are very volatile. But the fact that Tesla and Musk have kept interested high through references and announcements regarding cryptocurrencies could keep the highs going for some time.