--- title: "Elon Musk Explains Why He is “Pro Doge,” Not Bitcoin" description: "Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today why he supports alternative cryptocurrency Dogecoin and isn't a huge fan of Bitcoin." date: "2021-12-23" modified: "2021-12-23" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-pro-doge-bitcoin" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "bitcoin" - "cryptocurrencies" - "dogecoin" - "elon musk" - "jack dorsey" - "web3" --- # Elon Musk Explains Why He is “Pro Doge,” Not Bitcoin ![Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today why he supports alternative cryptocurrency Dogecoin and isn't a huge fan of Bitcoin.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today why he supports alternative cryptocurrency Dogecoin — and isn't a huge fan of Bitcoin. "My goal is to build stuff and make money and have fun," Dogecoin cofounder Billy Markus [wrote in a tweet]() on Thursday. "I’m used to the corporate establishment and don’t really see any meaningful break away from it — Bitcoin just gives power to new rich people." And that's precisely "why I'm pro doge," Musk [replied]() on Twitter. There's a major debate raging online on whether blockchain — the potential driver of Web3 — and Bitcoin are truly decentralized or actually being governed from the shadows by a small group of individuals and corporations. Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey [recently joined Musk]() in an anti-Web3 tirade on Twitter, [arguing]() that "you don’t own 'web3.' The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label." Musk piled own. "Has anyone seen web3?” he wrote in [a mocking reply tweet](). "I can’t find it." The backlash from Dorsey's comments was almost immediate, with a number of high profile crypto investors [unfollowing him]() on the platform. But Markus, Musk, and Dorsey may have a point. Bitcoin in particular isn't all that decentralized, according to a [recent study]() by the National Bureau of Economic Research, which showed that the top 10,000 bitcoin holders — the token's "one percent," as [*The Wall Street Journal* put it]() — hold 5 million bitcoin, worth a staggering $232 billion. For those keeping score, that's 0.01 percent of all users holding 27 percent of the supply. Dorsey's comments were also met by fierce backlash from the Ethereum community after [he implied]() the token wasn't "truly secure and resilient" in a tweet on Tuesday. "I’m not anti ETH," the former Twitter CEO reiterated in a [tweet]() two days later. "I’m anti-centralized, VC-owned, single point of failure, and corporate controlled lies." "If your goal is anti establishment, I promise you it isn’t Ethereum," he added. "Don’t believe or trust me! Just look at the fundamentals." Unlike Ethereum and Bitcoin, Dogecoin is a bit of an oddball, a token that started as a joke. And to Musk, that's the appealing part. Musk has been one of the biggest buyers of crypto, with his electric car company Tesla [investing some $1.5 billion]() in the currency earlier this year. Subsequent flip-flopping on his opinion of the token [sent Bitcoin soaring]() — and [eventually imploding]() — this year. He also has had [tremendous influence]() on the price of Dogecoin, sending it on an even [rockier rollercoaster](). In other words, regardless of his outsider rhetoric, Musk *is* the establishment when it comes to Bitcoin and Dogecoin. The billionaire CEO however has repeatedly warned that it's not a serious way of investing money. "The point was that Dogecoin was invented as a joke, as essentially to make fun of cryptocurrency," [he told paparazzi]() back in May, "and that’s why... I think there’s an argument that the most entertaining outcome is the most like ‘what would be the most ironic outcome?'" The debate over whether crypto truly represents decentralization and anti-establishment will likely rage on for a while longer, with the likes of Musk or Dorsey's comments leading the narrative — while also determining the shortterm fate of markets. What effect their tweets will have on the future of Web3, a utopian vision of the next internet, is even less certain. **More on the saga:** *[In Anti-Blockchain Twist, Elon Musk Slams Web3 as “Marketing Buzzword”]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()