During a court hearing against OpenAI, Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, stated that he considers most cryptocurrencies to be fraudulent projects. This was reported by Fortune, citing the session in Oakland.
The billionaire’s comment came in response to a request to clarify his stance on digital assets—a question that arose in the context of discussing the AI company’s plans for an ICO in 2018. At that time, the firm was considering issuing its own token to raise funds.
“Some [cryptocurrencies] have value, but most are just scams,” said Musk.
A Change in Stance
Previously, the entrepreneur was considered a supporter of digital assets. In 2021, Tesla became one of the first public companies to add Bitcoin to its corporate reserves, although Musk himself described the $1.5 billion investment as risky.
In the spring of the same year, the firm began selling electric cars for digital gold. Musk suggested that one day it might be possible to purchase a car with the meme coin Dogecoin, which he also repeatedly endorsed.
A few months later, Tesla suspended the option to pay with Bitcoin due to concerns about the environmental impact of mining the coin. The company still holds over 11,000 BTC worth $886 million.
SpaceX also holds 8,285 BTC valued at $638 million, according to Arkham.
Community Reaction
Users criticized Musk for hypocrisy. A user with the nickname Marcus recalled the sharp rise in DOGE prices every time the billionaire mentioned the coin.
The man who pumped Dogecoin to a $90 billion market cap calling crypto scams 🤦🏾♂️
The audacity has no ceiling…
— M̲̅A̲̅R̲̅C̲̅U̲̅S̲̅ 🥷 (@freshesmarcus) April 30, 2026
“The man who pumped Dogecoin to a $90 billion market cap calling crypto scams. The audacity has no ceiling,” he wrote.
Musk’s social network X also actively promotes digital assets. In mid-April, the platform launched the Cashtags feature to track cryptocurrency rates.
Earlier, the entrepreneur announced the launch of X Money—a digital wallet for P2P transfers and payments.
Some community members agreed with Musk’s opinion. In their view, only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a few major altcoins have real value.
Lol did you really need Elon musk to tell you this?
I’d say anyone with a 90 IQ can see that.
Bitcoin, Eth, and a handful of other crypto have use cases and will survive and thrive.
Most are garbage 99.9%
— Dwayne Bennett (@DwayneNHL) May 1, 2026
“Did you really need Elon Musk to tell you this? I’d say anyone with an IQ around 90 would say the same,” wrote one user.
Back in late March, the billionaire hired a former designer from Base and Aave to work on X.