This story originally appeared on MarketWatch.
Crypto bull and Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk appears to be toying with the idea of allowing customers to use parody coin dogecoin to purchase products at the electric-vehicle maker.
Musk early Tuesday issued a survey via Twitter asking if Tesla should accept doge DOGEUSD, +6.86%, the popular crypto whose stratospheric rise has made it the No. 4 most-valued digital asset in the world, according to CoinMarketCap.com.
Early Tuesday, the survey, which had received 2.3 million votes, shows that 77% of respondents favor using dogecoin while the remainder aren’t so keen.
Musk has been one of the most vocal champions of dogecoin and his remarks in recent weeks and months have been credited, at least partly, with the surge in the crypto that has taken it up over 10,000% so far in 2021, turning the virtual coin that was created in 2013 as a lighthearted riff on the boom in alternative coins to bitcoin BTCUSD, 1.08% into a social-media driven force of nature.
Dogecoin, however, has been in a bit of a tailspin since hitting a record near 75 cents over the weekend, ahead of the Tesla TSLA, -2.36% CEO’s much-hyped appearance on NBC’s comedy sketch show “Saturday Night Live.” Musk was expected to talk bullishly about crypto and dogecoin in particular, and he did, but his comments failed to deliver a jolt higher to doge.
At last check, dogecoin was changing hands at 50.9 cents on CoinDesk, and had hit a low in the last 24 hours at 42.04 cents.
Still, boosters of the crypto remain optimistic about the outlook for the asset that ended last year at a fraction of a penny.
A number of merchants and vendors are accepting dogecoin after its surge and the support of billionaire celebrities like Musk and Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban have also lent credence to the asset.
Tesla already accepts bitcoin at its venues . Using crypto like dogecoin and bitcoin is fraught with risks because the prices of those assets are volatile.
Gains in traditional assets have been pedestrian set against dogecoin. Gold futures GC00, -0.10% are down about 3% so far this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.64% and the S&P 500 indexSPX, -1.18% are up by at least 11% in 2021, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.50% has gained about 4% so far this year.
Musk has seemingly done his part to support dogecoin. On Sunday, the technologist said that SpaceX, the space exploration company that he also runs, will accept the cryptocurrency to fund a lunar mission next year.
In a statement Sunday, Geometric Energy Corp. announced the “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon,” the first-ever commercial lunar payload paid entirely with dogecoin.
The bigger question is will dogecoin prices follow suit after Musk’s efforts.
Tesla shares were down 2.8% in Tuesday trade and has fallen 9% so far this week.
