Tesla Now Accepts Dogecoin for Some Items, Not Cars

Giant electric carmaker Tesla is now accepting Dogecoin payments for specific merchandise. Following the news, the popular meme coin went on a roller coaster, gaining by as much as 15% at one point. Notably however, it appears Tesla will not accept Dogecoin for payments involving any electric vehicles.

Tesla Store Lists Merch in DOGE

As of now, the Tesla store‘s Lifestyle section displays pricing information for some merchandise denominated in both US Dollars (USD) and Dogecoin (DOGE). For instance, the Giga Texas Belt Buckle is listed for 835 Doge, the Cyberquad for 12,020 Doge, and a Cyberwhistle goes for 300 Doge. 

The move comes nearly a month after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk teased DOGE payment option. “Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes,” Musk said at the time. Now, confirming the new feature, he tweeted:

Notably, Tesla’s website currently does not accept Doge payments for electric vehicles, but only for select merchandise. According to a support document, Doge prices are updated every 15 minutes. “If time expires, you will need to restart the order process,” it explains.

Despite this, some in the crypto community have pointed out that users might get a discount when Doge prices move down – as it takes some time before the price is updated by the website. 

Meanwhile, the news has helped Dogecoin, which is down by around 75% compared to all-time highs recorded in May 2021, to move higher. The meme coin is currently trading at around $0.19, up by over 13% over the past 24 hours. Notably, the price is currently fluctuating sharply.

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Will Tesla’s Doge Payment Share Bitcoin’s Fate?

In early 2021, Tesla started accepting Bitcoin as payment for its electric cars. The experiment proved short-lived as the EV company halted payments citing environmental concerns. Musk has since reiterated that the company would begin accepting Bitcoin once mining becomes cleaner. 

However, the Doge experiment might be different given Musk’s interest in the coin. It is no secret that he has an exceptional passion for the coin — simply check how much he has tweeted about the meme coin. On June 20, 2021, which was also Father’s Day, the Doge community started calling Musk the “Dogefather,” a title that he accepted. 

He even tried to promote the meme coin when he appeared on SNL’s comedy sketch show in mid-May. However, his ‘skit’ made fun of Doge at the show, which some believe prompted the steep sell-off. For context, Doge dropped from $0.72 to $0.43 during the show, which left the community confused. 

Notably, not everyone in the crypto community is happy with Elon’s power to manipulate markets with a single tweet. In fact, many have argued that this era will come to an end. For one, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in May 2021 that Elon will not have his influence forever. He said:

“Elon Musk tweeting is something that the crypto space has only been introduced to for the first time literally last year and this year. I think it’s reasonable to expect a bit of craziness. But I do think that the markets will learn. Elon is not going to have this influence forever.”

Do you think Tesla will eventually accept Doge payments for electric vehicles? Let us know in the comments below.