‘A legitimate cryptocurrency’ – Dogecoin price suddenly rises after Elon Musk hits back at $258 billion lawsuit
Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire and Twitter owner, has asked a judge to throw out a $258 billion lawsuit accusing him of trying to pump up the dogecoin price.
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Dogecoindogecoin, a meme-based cryptocurrency originally created as a “joke,” has risen into the crypto top ten over the past couple of years, aided by the support of high-profile investors and social media influencers like Musk and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
The dogecoin price has jumped nearly 10% since a Friday night filing by Musk’s lawyers calling the lawsuit filed by dogecoin investors a “fantastic work of fiction.”
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“There is nothing illegal about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to have a market cap of nearly $10 billion,” Musk’s lawyers said, rejecting the suggestion that dogecoin is an unregistered security. “This court should put a stop to plaintiffs’ imaginations and dismiss the complaint.”
Dogecoin price catapulted into the crypto top ten in early 2021, peaking during Musk’s appearance on US comedy sketch show Saturday Night Life, where he called dogecoin “a hustle.”
Musk has previously said he personally owns some dogecoin, along with rival cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ethereum ethereum, and has begun accepting dogecoin for payment at rocket company SpaceX and electric car company Tesla.
In 2021, Musk said he wanted to help “upgrade” dogecoin to make it the world’s currency and has continued to tease the idea of adding dogecoin support to Twitter after he bought the social network last November.
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A lawyer working on behalf of the dogecoin investors hit back and told Reuters: “We are more confident than ever that our cause will be successful.”
The lawsuit accused Musk of driving up dogecoin’s price “more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash,” using “his pedestal as the world’s richest man to run and manipulate the dogecoin pyramid scheme.”
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