Anthony Martin

Elon Musk has had things pretty much his own way for the past couple of decades. But given the almost complete collapse of Dogecoin over the past few months, the tech supremo is quickly becoming enemy number one in the crypto community, and it’s all thanks to how he appears to be able to influence any given coin simply via tweeting. Today, we re discussing Musk being sued for $258 billion by a Dogecoin investor, so stay tuned! Let’s have a quick look at the history of Dogecoin… The coin was created by a pair of software engineers back in 2013 as a joke, mostly making fun of cryptocurrencies and the amount of speculation as to their worth. Known as a “meme coin”, it quickly gained traction and was marketed as a “fun and friendly currency.” Around November 2020, when still a relative unknown within the global community (although it did have a small following in the crypto space) the coin was worth just under half a cent (US). Enter hurricane Musk, who decided to make the coin his pet project, first tweeting about it on December 20, 2020 with a simple message: “One word: Doge.” This sent the crypto space into somewhat of a meltdown and investors scrambled to snap up the coin. At it’s highest point in April 2021, the meme coin was worth just over $0.3, with the main driving force behind the coin’s rally being Musk himself, who dropped a series of Doge-related tweets. At one point, Musk called the coin “the people’s crypto”. However, it didn’t stay at the peaks we saw in early 2021 and slowly dwindled, even after Musk had claimed Tesla would accept Doge as payment and as of today (July 2) the coin is worth just over $0.05, a huge loss on its value from last year’s high. Some people have claimed that Musk’s actions are akin to market manipulation and someone should stop him before he manages to bankrupt half of the crypto community. Do you guys hold any Doge? So what’s up with all this legal business? Well, Musk has long acted as though he can do whatever the heck he likes, but it seems to have caught up with him as, earlier this month he was named in a suit by a Dogecoin investor by the name of Keith Johnson, who doesn’t like Musk’s behaviour surrounding the meme coin. In early June, the coin again took a but of a beating and dropped by 10% in the space of 24 hours, which meant it had taken a hit of around 93% since it’s highest point just over a year ago. This means that the coin has dropped by around $86 billion from its total market value at its peak. And disgruntled Doge investor, Johnson, who claims to have lost a large amount of money, now wants Musk to stump up for damages. He is looking for $86 billion plus the same again for punitive damages. The complaint was filed in Manhattan and has levelled some pretty serious charges at Musk and his two companies (Tesla and SpaceX), including racketeering for hyping up the coin and then seemingly letting it crash. It’s a big claim, one which Musk will of course deny. The complaint, in full, states: “Defendants were aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value yet promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading. Musk used his pedestal as World’s Richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement.” What do you make of these claims? What else do we know then? Johnson is seeking $258 billion, which is three times the coin’s loss since its highest point last spring, but he also wants measures put in place which stops Musk from promoting the coin. He also wants trading in Dogecoin to be officially classed as gambling, but this would then set a precedent which would surely mean all crypto trading would be gambling. Of course, it’s no secret that Musk holds the power to singlehandedly change any given coin’s fortune, but the most egregious meddling is his association with Doge. Johnson claims it is his appearance on SNL last year, when he made jokes about the coin, as the basis for the complaint, as the coin’s value dropped by 20% after his appearance. Musk actually claimed the meme coin was “a hustle” live on air, as part of a skit, however, the damage was done. Thousands of investors ditched the coin, leaving thousands more out of pocket and furious with Musk. It’s as though he doesn’t realise that hundreds upon thousands of people’s livelihoods depends on speculation in the crypto market, however, he is too intelligent not to realise this, which suggests he doesn’t care, which is even worse. Musk’s lawyers are so far yet to comment, but Johnson’s claims at best make Musk look naive, at worst like a malicious, sinister overlord. Do you think Musk manipulated the coin? Another day, another lawsuit for Musk, stay tuned! Back in May, a group of investors who hold shares in Twitter launched a lawsuit aimed at stopping Musk’s takeover of Twitter. The Orlando Police Pension Fund had decided that Musk wasn’t for them and tried to put the blocks on it, but yesterday (July 1), the lawsuit was dismissed, which now puts Musk in a good position to complete his takeover of the social media giant. The suit had accused Musk and his “co-conspirators”, Twitter and Morgan Stanley, of reaching an “agreement, arrangement or understanding” relating to Musk’s takeover before making the deal public. The suit also accused the Twitter board of “breaching its fiduciary duty” after accepting his offer. Musk is known to have purchased shares in Twitter before announcing his intentions, which some have pointed at as some pretty crude business practices; whether he will be found to have broken any laws is yet to be seen. He acquired 9.2% in the company to make him the company’s largest shareholder, which the police fund have claimed makes him “an interested party” in his following acquisition. Following the lawsuit, there came weeks and weeks of depositions and discovery, which actually included a deposition with Musk himself, however, the fund ultimately agreed to drop the suit “with prejudice” so they cannot now sue Twitter. The conclusion of this lawsuit has also seemed to coincide with a prolonged period of silence by Musk on Twitter. What do you guys think? Next up, Elon has broken his long silence on Twitter! As we all know, Elon loves a Tweet. But having been missing on the platform for the past nine days, he recently (July 1) broken his silence. His reappearance is the first time he has tweeted anything since June 21, as he posted a tribute to YouTuber who had recently passed. He also posted a family snap with the Pope, as well as a picture from his 40th. He captioned a quote by the YouTuber, in which he himself had quoted Sonic The Hedgehog from the movie Wreck it Ralph, by simply saying “wise words from SJM.” He captioned his photo with the pope by saying he was honoured to meet him, whilst also posting a slightly cryptic Tweet which read: “Feeling … perhaps … a little bored?” The final Tweet of his most recent spree saw him post a picture with his ex-wife, in which he described himself as having on a “tragic suit,” whilst the ex-mrs was sporting something a lot more racy. Musk had made no mention of any plans to remove himself from the platform, however, last week it came to light that SpaceX employees had written a letter to their employer, complaining of his presence on the social media giant. Of course, he is known for his sometimes petulant rants on the platform, which some of his workers had suggested brings down their reputation on the whole. Probably not far off the mark to be fair. What do you make of Musk’s prolonged silence? And finally, Elon has stepped up his campaign against workers who work from home, stay tuned! Musk recently emailed his employees at Tesla, warning them that he expects them to return to the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. However, along with that came a ton of problems. Given Tesla's almost doubling in manpower over the pandemic, when employees did return, there wasn’t enough of, well anything. A lack of carp parking spots, as well as desks and wifi flooded with too many devices meant it wasn’t actually viable to have so many people back at once. But Musk has since doubled down. It has now emerged that if a worker doesn’t attend the office enough, they will receive an automated email which message which reads: “You are receiving this email because there is no record of you using your badge to enter a Tesla facility on at least 16 days over the 30-day period ending on June 28.” I mean, calm down, Elon. Workers are now reportedly having to explain themselves if they don’t turn in, even though some were hired with the understanding that they would be able to work remotely. But when you’re the richest man in the world, you can move the goalposts whenever you want, right? As usual, thanks for joining us today and remember to stop by again next time when we will be discussing all sorts of cool bits and pieces. And why not do us a favour by liking and sharing today’s video with any Musk-heads you know of, as well as subscribing to our channel! Bye guys.