Dogecoin price soars as Elon Musk hints Tesla could accept crypto

The price of dogecoin shot up by 15 per cent in as many minutes on Tuesday morning after Elon Musk suggested that Tesla is considering accepting payments in the cryptocurrency.

The electric car maker already accepts payments in bitcoin, having invested $1.5 billion in the crypto earlier this year.

Dogecoin enthusiasts have frequently lobbied Mr Musk online to add it as a payment option, and the Tesla boss has previously touted it as the future of money, even suggesting it could become the “currency of Mars”.

In a Twitter poll posted to his 54 million followers, Mr Musk asked: “Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?”

More than a million people voted within an hour of the poll going live, with more than three quarters of them voting for Tesla to accept dogecoin.

Dogecoin’s price immediately shot up from $0.46 to $0.54, before falling back down to around $0.50 at the time of writing.

It is not the first time Mr Musk’s tweets have caused the market to move, with similar spikes seen each time he appears to promote the meme-inspired cryptocurrency.

When asked why he tweets so much about dogecoin earlier this year, he said: “I love dogs and memes.”

Dogecoin reached new record highs last week in anticipation of Mr Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, during which he spoke at length about the cryptocurrency.

The price peaked at $0.73 before falling back down to $0.42 after he suggested that the crypto could be “a hustle”.

On Sunday, less than a day after his SNL appearance, Mr Musk caused the price to rebound after announcing that SpaceX will launch a Doge-1 satellite “to the moon” next year.

The mission will be funded by the cryptocurrency, he said, while also marking the first time that a meme has been sent into space.