While Elon Musk has yet to formally delve into the blockchain space, he has long been a fabled member of this community. Since finding his way to the headlines of the world’s media, the Tesla chief executive’s pro-innovation mindset has struck a chord with many enamored with cryptocurrencies. Musk’s vision to better society’s facets through innovation seemingly lines up with the raison d’etres of Bitcoin crusaders.
Instead of acknowledging this, however, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has decided to tug on crypto’s heartstrings, if you will, with an endless stream of harmless jokes. But that’s not exactly a bad thing, as by doing this, Musk is actively exposing millions to cryptocurrencies.
The First And Last Dogecoin CEO
On April 1st, stakeholders of the cryptocurrency industry were more than happy to participate in April Fools’ Day. As Blockonomi reported, Vitalik Buterin poked fun at Tron’s Justin Sun, a Bitcoin skeptic issued a “buy,” and Blockstream launched an ‘Ethereum block explorer’. What flew under the radar, however, was the official Dogecoin Twitter handle’s joke vote to choose a new chief executive of the decentralized project.
While Buterin and two other industry executives were named, Elon Musk was thrown into the poll as a wildcard. The wildcard won.
Musk received the most votes of the other ‘candidates’ for the stint, and he the Tesla visionary was sure he wouldn’t be remiss to miss his mystery lap. In response to the poll, Musk claimed that Dogecoin, a long-standing digital asset for fun-loving, meme-centric netizens, might actually be his favorite cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin rulz pic.twitter.com/flWWUgAgLU
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2019
In the hours that followed, Musk took the mantle as the first (and last) ‘CEO’ of Dogecoin. The entrepreneur quickly replaced his Twitter biography with a short “CEO of Dogecoin.”
He subsequently tweeted a meme about Dogecoin, one that accentuated the Silicon Valley mainstay’s enamorment with Internet culture, and a Bitcoin price-related article from The Onion.
While the latter action was slow to garner engagement, the former quickly went viral, not just on Crypto Twitter, with the joke-ridden tweet sporting tens of thousands of likes. And just minutes late, Musk regened on his newfound position, becoming the “Former CEO of Dogecoin.” What a turnaround.
Musk’s Kidding, But He’s Still A Bitcoin Fan
This was evidently all done in good fun, but it underscores something more important than you may think. Musk’s recent run-in with the crypto industry marks the latest time a notable star in the technology industry has signal boosted Bitcoin and its brethren in a dramatic and effective fashion.
Earlier this year, Musk took to the in-house podcast at ARK Invest, a forward-thinking investment group with tech roots, to talk all things Tesla, autonomy, and the future. Near the end of the recording, however, the interviewer, ARK Invest’s chief executive, threw a curveball, asking about his thoughts on Bitcoin. The Mars mission hopeful was surprisingly candid with his response.
Musk opined that he really likes the underlying structure of the Bitcoin blockchain, but brought up his skepticism of the energy-intensive Proof of Work model. Yet, he made it clear that cryptocurrencies in and of themselves are inherently better than paper fiat money, as such assets provide meaningful benefits that are especially useful in underprivileged nations. Mainstream media quickly picked up on the news, spreading the news to millions the world over that a respected figure in business is actively interested in cryptocurrencies.
A similar situation went down with Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter and Square. Dorsey recently took to the “Joe Rogan Experience,” in which the social media all-star lauded the merits of Bitcoin and its potential to become the native currency of the Internet, before taking to Twitter to do much of the same. Some of the biggest names are lauding Bitcoin and related technologies, but will this be enough to catalyze mainstream approval and subsequent adoption?
