Elon Musk says Tesla will start accepting dogecoin for some merchandise — sending the meme token soaring as much as 16%

Elon Musk says Tesla will start accepting dogecoin for some merchandise — sending the meme token soaring as much as 16%

Elon Musk has said will let people purchase some of its merchandise with the meme cryptocurrency . "Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes," Musk Tuesday. Dogecoin's price was down before Musk's announcement but then skyrocketed. It was last up 16% at $0.19243, according to crypto data website . The Tesla CEO has been a long-running supporter of dogecoin, a Japanese Shiba Inu dog-themed cryptocurrency that was started as a joke in 2013. In May, he asked his Twitter followers whether Tesla , to which the overwhelming response was "yes." Earlier the same month, Musk said he thought dogecoin could ironically become . Tesla wouldn't be the first company to accept the meme token in payment. The Dallas Mavericks — the basketball team owned by crypto fan Mark Cuban — in exchange for it earlier this year. Musk and Tesla have been key drivers of the cryptocurrency boom in 2021. The electric-car maker in January, and then in March, announced it would start accepting the cryptocurrency in payment for cars. However, Musk in May, criticizing bitcoin's "insane" energy use. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin, are secured and using lots of computing power. Musk