Investors are suing CEO of Tesla and Twitter Elon Musk for $258 billion in damages, claiming Musk operated a pyramid scam to raise the price of Dogecoin.
Elon Musk is being sued for $258 billion for conspiracy, according to The Independent. The complaint claims that Musk intentionally raised the price of the crypto Dogecoin. This week, the cryptocurrency’s token price increased after Musk replaced the Twitter “bird” emblem on the platform’s site with the Dogecoin mascot.
The plaintiffs in the case claim that Musk made use of his social media profiles and a performance on SNL to increase the price of Dogecoin by “over 36,000% and then allowed it to crash.” Musk is also accused of “using his pedestal as the globe’s Richest Man to manage and control the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme,” according to the lawsuit.
Musk’s attorneys have rejected the claims as “fanciful fiction” founded on “innocuous and frequently silly tweets” about Bitcoin. “There is nothing wrong or illegal about tweeting phrases of support for, or amusing images of, an official crypto,” they said. “This court must put an end to plaintiffs’ fantasy and reject the complaint.”
Dogecoin, which was created as a prank in 2013, has grown in prominence in recent years. The coin with a meme-like design reached its peak in May 2021, after which it experienced substantial losses. Despite the losses, Dogecoin still has a market capitalization of over $10 billion, putting it among the top ten most valuable cryptos.
Musk has previously stated that, in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum, Dogecoin is among three coins he holds. Musk stated in a 2021 conversation with Time that Dogecoin had the basis to operate as a widely recognized form of money. “Despite the fact that it was created as a type of joke, dogecoin is actually more suitable for transactions than even bitcoin,” he said. “It is maybe slightly inflationary… but that is a good thing because it encourages folks to spend instead of save it as a store of value.”
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