Elon Musk defends Tesla’s $1.5 billion bitcoin bet as safer than Dogecoin – and says it’s less dumb than holding cash

Elon Musk defends Tesla’s $1.5 billion bitcoin bet as safer than Dogecoin – and says it’s less dumb than holding cash

Elon Musk defended Tesla's $1.5 billion bitcoin bet after the CEO of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance called out the billionaire's support for meme-based token Dogecoin. 

"Having some Bitcoin, which is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P500 company," Musk tweeted in response to a Bloomberg interview with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Tesla made its biggest bitcoin endorsement yet by announcing not just its significant investment, but also that it plans to adopt the digital asset as a form of payment for its products. 

In the interview, Zhao said he was surprised that Musk is a Dogecoin advocate, given that it was created as a joke. Musk has fired off several tweets about the Shiba Inu-themed token, sparking a surge in its price. Last week, he said he bought some for his 9-month-old son.

"I strongly believe that he's not really associated with Dogecoin in any way," Zhao said of Musk, noting that Tesla's bet was on bitcoin, and not on the "joke" asset. But Binance has added Dogecoin futures recently based on consumer demand. That's because it's gaining popularity for reasons nobody expected, Zhao said.

Zhao's comments elicited a response from Musk, in which he explained the