Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said in a social media post on on Nov. 3 that his various companies will never issue a cryptocurrency token.
Musk stated:
“To be super clear, none of my companies will ever create a crypto token.”
Musk made that comment in response to news about a token that is attempting to capitalize on a new product from his AI firm, xAI, called Grok. Though that company and project are legitimate, any crypto tokens that use those names are not legitimate.
Musk’s statement indicates that the other companies that he owns or leads — including his rebranded Twitter app X, his automotive company Tesla, and his spacecraft and launch company SpaceX — will not issue a cryptocurrency of their own.
Despite that warning, there appear to be numerous tokens in circulation that intend to capitalize on Musk’s companies and their popularity in the crypto sphere. On the Ethereum blockchain alone, there are 260 tokens that mention SpaceX, 497 tokens that mention Tesla, and countless others that mention Twitter or X.
Though few of those tokens have any market value, some have become high-profile scams. In January 2023, Forbes listed 25 notable Elon Musk-themed scams, including a number of cryptocurrency scams and fake coin offerings.
Musk’s companies already make use of crypto
Though Musk’s firms will not issue new crypto tokens, those companies do make use of existing cryptocurrencies. Tesla holds about $184 million of cryptocurrency, largely or entirely Bitcoin, and accepts Dogecoin for some merchandise transactions.
Elsewhere, X supports Bitcoin tipping. The firm is also planning to introduce extensive payment features that may or may not include support for crypto transactions.
SpaceX, finally, held an unspecified amount of Bitcoin as recently as 2021. One of the company’s customers has also funded a SpaceX mission, called DOGE-1, with Dogecoin; that mission is currently expected to launch in January 2024.