Elon Musk says he’s still buying dogecoin after 90% price crash

Tesla boss accepts crypto payments for certain products after claiming it is better than bitcoin for transactions

Dogecoin is trading at yearly lows in June 2022 after its price crashed by more than 90 per cent from its peak (Getty Images)

Elon Musk has revealed that he is still buying dogecoin despite the meme-inspired cryptocurrency losing more than 90 per cent of its value over the last 13 months.

The price of dogecoin saw a brief surge following the billionaire’s comments on Sunday evening, though any gains were again wiped out within a few hours.

“I will keep supporting dogecoin,” he tweeted, before confirming to one of his followers that he will “keep buying it”.

The world’s richest person has been a vocal advocate of dogecoin in recent years, claiming that it is one of only three cryptocurrencies that he has personally invested in, alongside bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

As the head of Tesla, he has also made it possible to purchase some products using the cryptocurrency, having blocked bitcoin payments due to environmental concerns.

Speaking to Time magazine last year, Mr Musk claimed that dogecoin was more suitable as a mainstream currency compared to bitcoin, as it does not have a fixed supply.

“Even though it was created as a silly joke, dogecoin is actually better suited for transactions,” he said. “It is slightly inflationary... but that’s actually good as it encourages people to spend rather than to hoard it as a store of value.”

Mr Musk, who made his first fortune as the co-founder of the online payments giant PayPal, has also previously proclaimed himself as the CEO of dogecoin.

The record-breaking price rally in 2020 and 2021 was partly attributed to comments made by Mr Musk, particularly in the build-up to his appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live in May 2021, when he was expected to hype up the cryptocurrency to millions of viewers.

After reaching close to $0.70 in the build-up to the show, it subsequently crashed spectacularly and is currently trading below $0.06.

Most of Mr Musk’s previous projections for dogecoin and the cryptocurrency space more generally have been long term, once quipping that a “Mars economy will run on crypto”.

In a 2021 Q&A session on the app Clubhouse, he said: “Fate loves irony... The most entertaining outcome is often the most likely and arguably the most entertaining outcome, and most ironic outcome, would be that dogecoin becomes the currency of Earth in the future.”

Following his latest comments, dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus thanked the tech billionaire for his support.

“You’ve always been earnest about supporting the coin for what i consider the right reasons – you find it amusing, appreciate the satire and irony, and you think it has potential as a currency – and your companies accept it for merch, giving it more utility,” he tweeted.