PUMP & DUMP
Elon Musk pumps Dogecoin amid lawsuit

Dylan Butts
Sun, June 19, 2022


Dogecoin (DOGE) has gained 11% since billionaire Elon Musk said that he would continue to support and buy the cryptocurrency.

See related article: Bitcoin, crypto return to red after rate hike rally wears off
Fast facts

According to CoinMarketCap data, the memecoin was up more than 12% in the past 24 hours to US$0.05788 on Monday.

Dogecoin had dropped to as low as US$0.04972 in the past seven days following a broader bear market in crypto and a lawsuit against Musk.

Musk’s statement comes days after a complaint seeking a class action lawsuit against the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX was filed alleging manipulation in the price of Dogecoin. The two companies and Musk have been named as defendants.

The complaint seeks US$86 billion in compensatory damages and US$172 billion in treble damages from Musk and Tesla and SpaceX, alleging they are engaged in a “Crypto Pyramid Scheme” by inflating the price of something with no fundamental value.

The lawsuit claims Musk’s public statements have a direct effect on DOGE and that for three years, he “engaged in and profited from the manipulation of the price of Bitcoin.”

Musk has been an influential advocate of Dogecoin since 2019, when he began tweeting about the meme-based digital tokens, later allowing the tokens to be used to purchase Tesla merchandise, which did correlate with a price surge.

However, the relationship hasn’t been all bull markets and growth — Musk jokingly called the coin a “hustle” in a skit for the show Saturday Night Alive in May 2021, triggering a 40% crash.

Musk had been silent about Dogecoin on Twitter recently, but his joining of the Twitter board in April also correlated with a rally in DOGE prices, with Musk offering to buy the entire social media company.