Tesla to accept dogecoin as payment for merchandise

Musk did not specify the merchandise that could be bought with dogecoin

Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk said on Tuesday the electric carmaker will accept dogecoin as payment for merchandise on a test basis, sending the meme-based cryptocurrency up 24%.

Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes, Musk said in a tweet.

Dogecoin, popular among retail investors, raced up to $0.20 after the tweet. Musk's tweets on the cryptocurrency, including the one where he called it the ‘people's crypto’, have helped the meme coin surge 5,859% over the past year, according to data from Coinbase website.

Yet most major cryptos continued to slide, with Bitcoin down 1.5%, at $46,800, and Ether off 1.5%, at $3,770.

Stablecoins, meanwhile, were on the hot seat in Washington at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a fixed $1 value, backed 1-1 by cash or other liquid reserves.

Musk did not specify what merchandise, which starts from $50 and goes as high as $1,900, could be bought with dogecoin.

Tesla sells apparel, 'Giga Texas' belt buckles and mini models of its vehicles as well as quirky limited-edition items such as the 'Cyberwhistle', which is modelled after its much-awaited Cybertruck. It recently launched a quad bike 'Cyberquad' for kids, also modelled after the truck.

Musk, a cryptocurrency supporter, has often endorsed dogecoin and said it is better for transactions, most recently in an interview to the Time magazine, which named him "Person of the Year" for 2021 on Monday.

Musk had asked users in May if they wanted Tesla to accept dogecoin in a Twitter poll. He had called dogecoin a 'hustle' during his guest-host spot on the "Saturday Night Live" comedy sketch TV show in May.