Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, stated during a court hearing against OpenAI that he considers most cryptocurrencies to be fraudulent projects. This was reported by Fortune, citing the session in Oakland.
In response to a question about his views on digital assets—raised in the context of discussing the AI company's ICO plans from 2018—Musk remarked that while some cryptocurrencies hold value, the majority are simply scams.
“Some [cryptocurrencies] have value, but most are just scams,” Musk said.
Change of Stance
Previously, Musk was seen as 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 had called the $1.5 billion investment risky.
In the spring of that year, the company began selling electric cars for Bitcoin. Musk suggested that one day it might be possible to buy a car with the meme coin Dogecoin, which he has also supported multiple times.
However, a few months later, Tesla suspended Bitcoin payments due to concerns about the environmental impact of mining the coin. The company still holds over 11,000 BTC valued at $886 million.
Source: Arkham.SpaceX also holds 8,285 BTC worth $638 million, according to Arkham.
Community Reaction
Users criticized Musk for hypocrisy. A user named Marcus pointed out 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 🤦🏾♂️
— M̲̅A̲̅R̲̅C̲̅U̲̅S̲̅ 🥷 (@freshesmarcus) April 30, 2026
The audacity has no ceiling…
“The man who pumped Dogecoin to a $90 billion market cap calls cryptocurrencies scams. The audacity knows no bounds,” he wrote.
Musk's social network X is also actively promoting digital assets. In mid-April, the platform launched a Cashtags feature for tracking cryptocurrency prices.
Previously, Musk announced the launch of X Money—a digital wallet for P2P transfers and payments.
Some community members agreed with Musk's opinion, believing that only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a few major altcoins hold real value.
Lol did you really need Elon Musk to tell you this?
— Dwayne Bennett (@DwayneNHL) May 1, 2026
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%
“Did you really need Musk to tell you this? Anyone with an IQ around 90 would say the same,” wrote one user.
Recall that in late March, the billionaire brought on a former designer from Base and Aave to work on X.