---
title: "Elon Musk Slams Bitcoin’s Underlying Technology"
description: "Elon Musk once again criticized Bitcoin, arguing that the underlying technology of Dogecoin is better suited for scalability."
date: "2021-07-09"
modified: "2021-07-09"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-slams-bitcoins-technology"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "bitcoin"
  - "crypto"
  - "dogecoin"
  - "elon musk"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk Slams Bitcoin’s Underlying Technology

![Elon Musk once again criticized Bitcoin, arguing that the underlying technology of Dogecoin is better suited for scalability.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/elon-musk-slams-bitcoins-technology.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quoteinspector/45160824282" target="\_blank"\>QuoteInspector/Futurism\</a\>\</em\>*

## Shots Fired

Once again, Elon Musk is singing the praises of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which seems to still be his [digital currency of choice](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-dogecoin-devs>).

The longtime crypto advocate, who earlier this year said that he would [take a salary in Bitcoin](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-salary-bitcoin>), has more recently turned into one of the cryptocurrency's [most prominent critics](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bitcoin-furious-elon-musk>). Today he went even further, arguing that Bitcoin and Ethereum are too slow and expensive to scale, especially compared to Dogecoin.

"BTC & ETH are pursuing a multilayer transaction system, but base layer transaction rate is slow & transaction cost is high," [Musk tweeted](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1413396249546563586>) early Friday morning. "There is merit imo to Doge maximizing base layer transaction rate & minimizing transaction cost with exchanges acting as the de facto secondary layer."

## Show Your Work

Already, Musk's tweet has [drawn the ire](<https://twitter.com/JoelHeyman/status/1413412051913887745>) of Bitcoin and Ethereum fans, who say he's making a [baseless criticism](<https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1413487536173842441>) of the widely-adopted cryptocurrencies. [As *Crypto Briefing* notes](<https://cryptobriefing.com/elon-musk-slams-bitcoin-ethereum-scalability-issues/>), the cost and speed of the Bitcoin blockchain has been a problem, historically, but recent upgrades have improved both.

Musk's stances on crypto have bounced around quite a bit over the last few months. Even though he's been harsh on Bitcoin recently, Tesla [still owns quite a bit](<https://futurism.com/tesla-bitcoin-hoard>) of the crypto — so he may well come around to it again down the road.

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk Slams Bitcoin, Ethereum Scalability Issues](<https://cryptobriefing.com/elon-musk-slams-bitcoin-ethereum-scalability-issues/>) \[*Crypto Briefing*\]

**More on Elon Musk:** *[Dogecoin Spikes After Elon Tweets About Helping Its Developers](<https://futurism.com/dogecoin-spikes-elon-musk-tweets-developers>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)