Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla and Twitter, has announced a reward of 1 million Dogecoin (DOGE) for anyone who can provide proof of the widespread rumors claiming that he owns an emerald mine.
This announcement came in response to a tweet from CB Doge, a prominent anonymous UI/UX designer for Dogecoin, who had disproven the claims and offered a reward of 69,420 Dogecoin ($5.7) to anyone who could prove otherwise.
In his tweet, Musk said, “I will pay a million Dogecoin for proof of this mine’s existence!” As of the time of writing, 1 million Dogecoin is valued at around $90,509.
Rumors surrounding Musk’s emerald mine ownership date back to 2018, when several media outlets cited an interview with Jim Clash published on Forbes in 2014.
In the interview, Musk claimed that his father owned a share in an emerald mine in Zambia. However, it should be noted that Musk is known for his jokes and unseriousness on his Twitter account, and the claim was never proven.
The statement was recently brought back into the limelight by Youtuber and podcaster Cody Johnston.
Last September, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called out Musk on Twitter, discrediting the “self-made billionaires” while reigniting the rumors regarding the mine. In response, Musk called Reich “an idiot and a liar.”
Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, took to Twitter to deny the rumors of the family owning a mine and said that she only became aware of its existence through Twitter.
“I didn’t know about the emerald mine and wealthy parents until I read it on @Twitter about ten years ago. So, why did we live in a rent-controlled apartment?” read the tweet posted on January 8, 2023.
Complicated relationship with Dogecoin
Musk’s recent bounty reflects his ongoing support for Dogecoin and willingness to promote it whenever an opportunity arises.
Recently, Elon Musk made headlines with his decision to change Twitter’s logo with a Dogecoin image, which some expected to be an April Fool’s joke. The Dogecoin logo remained for a few days before reverting to the original Twitter logo.
This change boosted Dogecoin’s price by 30 percent, with the cryptocurrency’s value racking up $26 million in liquidations.
However, the surge lasted only a short time as the hype surrounding the logo change subsided. As a result, the Dogecoin value slumped by 22.64 percent before slowly rising by 5.89 percent on April 12.
It’s worth noting that many know the close relationship between Musk and CB Doge, as he persistently promoted cryptocurrency. Although the banter between the two was mostly lighthearted, some speculated it was a deliberate stunt to divert attention from a court case against the billionaire.
On March 31, Musk filed a request with a U.S. judge in Manhattan federal court to dismiss a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit alleging he operated a pyramid scheme to support Dogecoin.
The $258 billion damages figure is reportedly triple the decline in Dogecoin’s market value over the past 13 months before the lawsuit was filed.
Musk’s legal team argued that his statements, such as “Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, only Doge,” were too vague to be considered as a support for a fraud claim.
Investors further accused Musk of intentionally driving up Dogecoin’s price by more than 36,000 percent in the span of two years, only to let it plummet. They alleged that this strategy had resulted in billions of dollars in profits for Musk at the expense of other Dogecoin investors.
