The $258 Billion Dogecoin Lawsuit Against Elon Musk: Dissecting The Plaintiff’s Arguments (Op-Ed)

If some angry investors had it their way, the world’s most successful tech startup founder and CEO would meanwhile lose his fortune. The cohort of people bringing “Johnson v Musk et al” in U.S. federal court, Southern District of New York, are suing him for $258 billion.

Elon Musk’s attorneys wrote in a memo to the court:

“The Complaint is a fanciful work of fiction that fails to state any actionable claim against Defendants Elon Musk and Tesla and must be dismissed in its entirety with prejudice.”

Here are the reasons why this lawsuit is frivolous.

Elon Musk Dogecoin Lawsuit

The litigants think they should be rewarded by U.S. courts for making unprofitable speculative investments. Furthermore, they want this colossal sum to be taken from the most profitable risk-taking business magnate in history.

The litigants feel entitled to squeeze Elon Musk because he supports the technology they hurt themselves on with poor investing decisions. It’s as if, from their point of view, Mr. Musk himself reached through the phone screen. It’s not like Musk twisted their arm to make them buy Dogecoin at the top of a multi-year market cycle.

In his characteristically defiant and cheeky way, Mr. Musk ordered the Twitter logo reset to the famous Doge meme graphic Monday. Dogecoin price exploded 25% in a day over the incredibly lucrative placement.

The case against Elon Musk and Dogecoin is a loosely cobbled-together monstrosity. Moreover, it’s built wholly out of flimsy pretenses and false statements. For example, the suit claims Dogecoin is wire fraud.

No representation is made by Dogecoin that is false or fraudulent. Users get private keys, and their keys go with their Dogecoin. The value of DOGE is determined by participants in a fair and transparent market. The price collapse of DOGE after the last bull run was market economics, not a fraud.

Dogecoin Isn’t Online Gambling

People aren’t betting on the outcome of anything with DOGE. Of course, people can use it for online gambling, but that’s not what it’s designed for in particular. Besides, they can also use dollars even though that’s not their express design or purpose either.

The only outcome users are “betting” on is that their private keys will work to spend their coins. But that’s, of course, not online gambling any more than any consumer expects a product they buy to work.

DOGE Isn’t a Ponzi Scheme Either.

Dogecoin doesn’t promise users returns, so it’s not a Ponzi scheme. Over the history of the $10 billion market cap cryptocurrency, it has delivered returns better than most stocks.

But it doesn’t promise them and provides a real, tangible service. Dogecoin is a software app produced by a peer-to-peer network. Enough with the frivolous lawsuits already.