Sorry pleb, Elon Musk is really your ‘Dogefather’

The following is a guest post by Justin O’Connell from GoldSilverBitcoin.com.

You’re wrong. Elon Musk isn’t joking when it comes to Dogecoin. This misconception is perpetuated on social media, in the mainstream press, and even in Telegram chats. As Billy Bambrough stated (emphasis mine): 

A long-time supporter of dogecoin, Musk has this year fully embraced the somewhat satirical cryptocurrency that was created in 2013 as a “joke,” issuing calls for upgrades and promising his rocket company SpaceX will put a “literal dogecoin on the literal moon.“

It’s not only a joke! Elon Musk’s Dogecoin strategy is to become the Dogefather. His Dogecoin tweets are not mere mischief. He tweeted about adopting a Shiba Inu, because he is going to soon be known as earth’s Dogefather, if not the galaxy’s or even the universe’s.

I’m looking for a shiba pup!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2021

Musk is ready to be a dogefather…

I’m getting a Shiba Inu #resistanceisfutile

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2021

Bitcoin has Satoshi. Ethereum, Vitalik. Dogecoin had nobody. Now it has Elon Musk, who recognized a clear power vacuum in the dogecoin community and began floating himself out there on social media as ‘the dogefather.’

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. He has openly stated his master plan to become a dogefather, and your resistance is futile. He has tweeted dozens, if not hundreds, of times about it. Don’t shoot the messenger. Meme for yourself: 

“I’m trying to tell you dogecoin is money,” the meme Musk tweeted, reads; a twist on a popular Matrix movie quote that asks whether dogecoin could make someone “a lot of money.”

And finally pic.twitter.com/TcgwMSyjAy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2021

The billionaire’s affections for dogecoin are no secret to anyone in the cryptocurrency community, and the mainstream public probably has sense of it too by now. He has called Doge “my fav cryptocurrency”, “pretty cool”, “underestimated”, “the people’s crypto”, and “the most fun crypto.” He’s even GIFTING DOGE to his family—sometimes to their chagrin.  

Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2021

As Elon heralded Dogecoin as a potential international internet currency, he criticized Bitcoin, calling it “almost as bs as fiat money”, “ancient crypto”, and “arguably deflationary to a fault.”

This did not win him any fans amongst Bitcoin maximalists or any of crypto’s true believers for that matter. Neither did Tesla’s suspension of Bitcoin payments, which the electric vehicle company did whilst citing environmental concerns. Musk, nonetheless, has held conference calls with Bitcoin miners and seems to remain interested in the world’s first cryptocurrency. 

When Dogecoin went to SNL

Musk took his act from Twitter to Saturday Night Live. Dogecoin naturally came up. During the news show parody “Weekend Update”, Musk, who was introduced as a cryptocurrency expert named “Lloyd Ostertag,” explained cryptocurrency. Hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost confusedly and repeatedly asked him, “What is Dogecoin?”

Finally, a light bulb went off in one of the host’s heads. “So it’s a hustle,” Che astutely said after Musk noted that Dogecoin began as a joke, but is still going to the moon. 

I am here to tell you that Elon’s precious attention is not on Dogecoin only for fun. His hustle is to become the Dogefather, and he has told you as much, but it went over your head. Object now or forever hold your peace, humans! Musk is making moves. In the episode’s final sketch, Musk quipped about creating a currency based on “whatever I say.”

Voila! And just like that Musk has brilliantly solved one of the most difficult hurdles to starting a cryptocurrency: network effect. The most difficult part about establishing a new token is creating a community that grows and adopts the currency or token for a use other than the network effect. Ask Steve Wozniak, whose WOZX token is no Dogecoin pre-Musk—let alone after—despite Woz’s profile. 

Dogecoin’s enthusiastic community has seemingly taken well to the self-anointed leader. Musk has had at least one conference call with the Dogecoin developers, who have not made statements distancing themselves from the billionaire. Let’s assume, then, a good rapport. Therefore, Musk is already our Dogefather.

So, what’s he going to do? It’s obvious. He is going to create a smartDOGE. He is even already talking about it publicly. During the Crypto Council for Innovation’s ₿ Word event, Musk expounded upon ideas that had previously been floated to upgrade Dogecoin via Ethereum to “max transaction rates and lower transaction costs.”

Musk adds: 

“There may be some merit in combining something like Ethereum and Dogecoin.” 

What must be forthcoming is a Musk-led Ethereum-inspired Dogecoin: smartDOGE. “Bitcoin by itself simply cannot scale to become the monetary system for the world at base layer,” Musk said. Bitcoin won’t become peer-to-peer cash without the help of a second layer network, he reasoned. 

“There’s some merit in considering something that has higher max transaction rate and lower transaction cost and seeing how far you can take a single-layer network with exchanges acting as a de facto second layer,” Musk said. “I think you could take that further than people realize and as bandwidth increases over time latency decreases.”

I can almost imagine Elon mouthing the words to himself while he sets up a Dogecoin rig with his children: “World, I am your Dogefather.”

I just set up some little Doge mining rigs with my kids. It was fun.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2021

Ah, the magic of thinking big…

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