--- title: "Elon Musk Invites SEC Into Battle Over Dogecoin, Because ??!??!?!??!" description: "Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn't afraid of the Securities and Exchange Commission coming after him for tweets about the cryptocurrency dogecoin." date: "2021-02-26" modified: "2021-02-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-invites-sec-into-battle-over-dogecoin-because" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "cryptocurrencies" - "cryptocurrency" - "dogecoin" - "elon musk" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Invites SEC Into Battle Over Dogecoin, Because ??!??!?!??! ![Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn't afraid of the Securities and Exchange Commission coming after him for tweets about the cryptocurrency dogecoin.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* ## Bring It Elon Musk says Bring. It. On. Rumors spread yesterday on social media that the Securities and Exchange Commission was allegedly investigating the Tesla CEO and billionaire for his [tweets about alternative cryptocurrency dogecoin](). The rumor was first surfaced by financial news service First Squawk in a [Thursday tweet]() that quickly went viral, but official sources have yet to confirm that Musk is actually being investigated (though it's worth noting that the SEC, like most government agencies, traditionally [does not comment]() on ongoing investigations). ## "I Hope They Do!" Investigation or not, Musk isn't exactly shaking in his boots. "I hope they do! It would be awesome," [Musk tweeted]() in a characteristically tongue-in-cheek tweet. In other words, he called the internet's bluff. As of right now, [there isn't actually]() any US federal regulator that supervises the trading of cryptocurrency assets, including dogecoin. But that's subject to change with the Biden administration taking over. Musk's recent tweets, a series of cartoony memes featuring dogecoin's mascot, an adorable shiba inu, sent the cryptocurrency soaring. A single word tweet sent the value shooting up by a whopping [25 percent earlier this week](). ## It's Complicated It would be far from Musk's first kerfuffle with the regulator. The billionaire has faced off with the SEC on a number of occasions involving the shares price of his electric car company Tesla. In a now infamous 2018 tweet, Musk stated that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 a share, a number that later turned out to be an [ill-advised weed joke](). The SEC didn't think it was funny and forced him to step down as the car company's board chairman in September 2018. The fallout between the now richest man in the world and the regulator became apparent almost immediately, with Musk [telling *CBS News* in December]() that "I do not respect the SEC." The SEC has yet to publicly comment on the Dogecoin conundrum. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk says SEC probe of Dogecoin tweets would be ‘awesome’]() \[*New York Post*\] **More on dogecoin:** *[Single-Word Elon Musk Tweet Sends Crypto Dogecoin Soaring]()* ## 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]()