Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he welcomes a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his tweets promoting the ‘joke’ cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
‘I hope they do! It would be awesome,’ tweeted Musk, 49, on Thursday, responding to unconfirmed online rumors that the SEC planned to probe his frenzy of tweets this month touting Dogecoin.
Cryptocurrency is not regulated by the SEC, which oversees regulated securities such as stocks, but Musk has previously entered settlements with the agency that could put his tweets under heightened scrutiny.
A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on Thursday when asked by DailyMail.com whether he could confirm plans to investigate Musk’s Dogecoin tweets.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he welcomes a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his tweets promoting the ‘joke’ cryptocurrency Dogecoin
Musk responded to to unconfirmed online rumors that the SEC planned to probe his memes
Musk has previously drawn sanctions for the SEC for his material tweets about Tesla, where he is CEO and a major shareholder.
He settled with the SEC over the complaints, which were spurred by a tweet musing about taking the company private, and another sharing production projections.
Publicly traded companies are regulated in how they provide forward-looking statements, in order to ensure investors have equal access to news that can move share prices significantly.
As part of the settlement, Musk agreed to have any tweets about Tesla’s financials or outlook reviewed by compliance officers at the company before posting them.
Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in the same way, and Musk’s tweets about Dogecoin are unlikely to be a violation of any law or regulation, regardless of whether he owns the cryptocurrency.
However, lawyers have remarked that Musk’s tweets are likely to draw SEC scrutiny, given Tesla’s recently announced $1.5 billion Bitcoin stake and his role as chief executive of the publicly traded company.
“It would not be surprising—given the focus on the chief executive’s Tweets, Bitcoin pricing and recent dramatic market moves—for the SEC to ask questions about the facts and circumstances here,” Doug Davison, a partner at Linklaters and former branch chief of the SEC’s division of enforcement, told the Telegraph.
Dogecoin hit a record high of $0.087159 on February 8 after long trading for less than one cent. It has since lost ground, and was at $0.051595 on Thursday
The controversy followed Musk’s latest Dogecoin tweets on Wednesday, in a post showing a cartoon of the Shiba Inu dog from the meme that inspired the cryptocurrency on the lunar surface, adding the remark, ‘on the actual moon.’
‘Going to the moon’ is internet slang used by small traders to predict that a particular asset will greatly increase in value.
Although it’s not clear if Musk literally meant ‘literally’ when referring to Dogecoin on the moon, he’s one of the few people who could actually make that happen. Musk’s SpaceX has been developing systems to return to the moon by 2024 under a contract with NASA.
Musk has been tweeting relentlessly this month promoting the ‘joke’ cryptocurrency, and the price of Dogecoin jumped once again after his latest salvo.
Dogecoin hit a record high of $0.087159 on February 8 after long trading for less than one cent. It has since lost ground, and was at $0.051595 on Thursday afternoon.
Musk again tweeted about Dogecoin on Wednesday, saying it is ‘literally’ going to the moon
Musk first started tweeting about Dogecoin on February 4 and the cryptocurrency’s price has been surging ever since, sparking concern over the billionaire’s ability to move markets.
Asked by a Twitter follower why he was such a fan of Dogecoin, Musk responded: ‘I love dogs & memes.’
DogeCoin has similar technical underpinnings as better-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but is little used and had long traded for less than one cent.
It was created in 2013 as a joke mocking the proliferation of new cryptocurrencies and based on a then-popular internet meme of a Shiba Inu dog.
Earlier this month, Musk revealed that that he had purchased an undisclosed amount of Dogecoin for his nine-month-old son X Æ A-Xii, who he shares with musician Grimes.
‘Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler,’ he tweeted alongside a video of his son sitting on the floor.
‘Hodl’ is an intentionally misspelled phrase used in the context of cryptocurrency to refer to buy-and-hold strategies.
It is not clear how much cryptocurrency Musk purchased, or when he bought it.
Musk made his enthusiasm for cryptocurrency clear after Tesla revealed a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, which reached record highs on the news but has since pared gains, dragging Tesla shares to a loss for the year on Tuesday.
Musk has been tweeting relentlessly about Dogecoin since February 4, which was subsequently followed by endorsements from rapper Snoop Dogg and Kiss rocker Gene Simmons.
Musk’s first Dogecoin tweets on February 4 included a picture of a rocket soaring past the moon with the caption ‘Doge,’ and an image from the Lion King that showed himself holding up the dog from the Doge meme.
‘Dogecoin is the people’s crypto,’ another tweet read. ‘No need to be a gigachad to own.’
‘No highs, no lows, only Doge.’