Accused of “manipulating” dogecoin, Elon Musk and Tesla win their case

Investors had filed a complaint against Elon Musk, accusing him of having promoted cryptocurrency before calling it a “scam”.

The American justice system announced in a press release on Thursday, August 29, that it was rejecting a complaint from investors against Elon Musk and Tesla. They accused the billionaire and his company of having rigged the price of the cryptocurrency dogecoin in which they had invested. They were demanding 258 billion dollars (around 233 billion euros) in compensation.

Many investors, who lost tens of thousands of dollars investing in the token, criticized Elon Musk for promoting it to his millions of Twitter followers (now X) through several statements (see above). Elon Musk had also announced that Tesla would accept dogecoin as a means of payment. These statements, seen several million times, had caused the price of the cryptocurrency to explode in 2021 (+1,500% over one year).

Elon Musk Says Dogecoin Is A “Scam”

While the cryptocurrency had reached 52 cents in September 2021 after several positive statements about it from Elon Musk, he announced during “Saturday Night Live” that dogecoin was ultimately a “scam”, causing the price to halve. The capitalization of the cryptocurrency had then decreased by $20 billion before the end of the broadcast of the show.

Investors therefore accused Elon Musk and Tesla of “pump & dump” with dogecoin, but the courts recognized that it was not Elon Musk’s fault if investors had followed his advice and lost their bets.

“Musk’s statements and publications were far more than window dressing and millions of people have lost billions of dollars,” Evan Spencer, one of the lawyers, said in a statement.

Dogecoin, with its dog emblem, is one of the most famous meme cryptocurrencies. Its price is currently 0.09 euros, according to Coinmarketcap.