Musk strikes again

When Elon Musk's name is associated with cryptocurrency, the market is never short of waves, but this time his actions regarding DOGE have plunged the entire ecosystem into an unprecedented "split"—the miner community is collectively anxious, retail communities are arguing endlessly, and DOGE, once united by "meme faith," is now at a crossroads between "practical transformation" and "losing its original intent." This chain reaction triggered by Musk is fundamentally rewriting the survival logic of DOGE.
Musk's "Key Step": From "Calls" to "Deep Binding"
Unlike the past "one-liner pump" on social media platforms, Musk's recent actions are directed at the core ecosystem of DOGE. According to internal Tesla news and disclosures from the blockchain industry, two initiatives led by Musk have been implemented: First, some of Tesla's supercharging stations have begun testing to accept DOGE payments, and it has been explicitly stated that they will "optimize the transaction speed of DOGE to accommodate high-frequency payment scenarios"; second, SpaceX has reached a collaboration with the core development team of DOGE, planning to incorporate DOGE into a "small settlement system related to space exploration supply chains," with the first applications covering cross-border small payments for satellite component procurement.
These two moves have completely broken the attribute of DOGE as a "pure speculative target." Previously, although DOGE became one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization due to Musk's endorsement, it had always lacked practical application scenarios. Issues such as slow transaction speeds and unstable fees made it difficult to shake off the label of a "meme coin." However, this binding with Tesla and SpaceX not only injected "practical value" into DOGE but also pushed it towards a transformation into a "payment-type cryptocurrency"—market data shows that within 48 hours of the announcement, the number of on-chain transactions for DOGE surged by 320%, with the proportion of "small payment-type transactions" rising from less than 5% to 28%, reaching an all-time high.
Miners vs Retail Investors: A Debate on "Interests" and "Beliefs"
Musk's actions have sparked huge controversy within DOGE, leading to rapidly escalating divisions between miners and retail investors, with major cryptocurrency forums and communities turning into a "battleground."
Miners: "Collective Opposition" Under Hashrate Anxiety
For DOGE miners, Elon Musk's push for "payment transformation" can be considered "bearish." DOGE uses the Scrypt algorithm, and miners' earnings mainly rely on "block rewards + transaction fees." The "optimization of transaction speed" promoted by Tesla and SpaceX essentially requires reducing DOGE's block confirmation time—currently, DOGE's block time is about 1 minute; if it is to adapt to high-frequency payments, it needs to be shortened to 10-15 seconds, which means that the mining output efficiency of miners will be diluted.
More importantly, Tesla plans to build a "DOGE-exclusive node cluster" to ensure payment stability, enhancing transaction processing capabilities through centralized nodes. This move has directly raised concerns among miners about "hashrate monopoly." A head of a leading DOGE mining farm stated on social media: "Musk's node cluster will monopolize more than 70% of transaction validation rights, leading to a 50% drop in transaction fee revenue for ordinary miners, and we may not be able to recover the costs of our mining machines." Data also corroborates this anxiety: following the announcement, DOGE hashrate experienced abnormal fluctuations, with some small and medium-sized mining farms beginning to shut down, and the overall network hashrate decreasing by 18% within 24 hours, while second-hand mining machine prices plummeted by 30%.
Retail Investors: The "Internal Split" Between Faith-based and Speculative Groups
The divergence among retail investors is more complex, presenting a contrast of "believers cheering and speculators panicking."
The "believers" believe that Musk's actions have realized the "original intention" of DOGE. Many early retail holders of DOGE stated that they initially chose DOGE precisely because they believed in its attributes of "decentralization and being close to ordinary users." This cooperation with Tesla and SpaceX has transformed DOGE from a "joke coin" into a "currency that can truly be used." An administrator from a DOGE community mentioned in an interview: "We have waited for this day for 5 years. DOGE no longer relies on 'a word from Musk' to fluctuate, but has its own value support — this is what long-term holding should look like."
However, the "speculative" retail investors have fallen into panic. This group of investors mostly entered during a round of DOGE's surge in 2023, with the core appeal being "short-term arbitrage." Although Musk's push for "payment transformation" brought a short-term price increase (after the news was announced, DOGE's price surged by 45% at one point), it also means that DOGE's price volatility may narrow—practical cryptocurrencies' prices depend more on the "progress of application scenarios" rather than "market sentiment speculation." A retail investor complained on a forum: "I bought DOGE to make quick money, but now it has become a 'payment coin', the price rises slowly and is unstable, Musk has cut off our financial path!"
Has the DOG changed? There are still three major uncertainties in the future.
Despite Musk's actions creating an opportunity for DOGE, whether this "change" can be sustained still faces three major uncertainties.
Firstly, the stability of the application scenario is in doubt. The DOGE payment test at Tesla Supercharger stations only covers products with a payment of 3 DOGE, which is limited to "charging service fees" and has not extended to the purchase of entire vehicles; SpaceX's supply chain settlement application is also in the "small-scale pilot" stage, and has not yet formed a scale. If subsequent application advancement does not meet expectations, it may lead to the dilemma of "the practical value of DOGE falling short."
Secondly, the risk of regulation cannot be ignored. DOGE has previously been classified as a "potential security asset" by the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) due to its "lack of actual value". Now, the shift towards "payment currency" may trigger stricter financial regulations – the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) clearly states that "cryptographic assets used for payments must meet compliance requirements such as anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing", while DOGE's current anonymous trading characteristics may struggle to pass regulatory scrutiny. If forced to adjust algorithms, it will further impact the miner and user ecosystem.
Thirdly, the loss of the "decentralization" attribute. The "node cluster" promoted by Musk is essentially a "semi-centralized" model, which contradicts DOGE's initial concept of "decentralization." If Tesla and SpaceX further control DOGE's nodes and transaction verification rights in the future, DOGE will become a proprietary token for Musk's companies, losing the core value of cryptocurrency — this is also a concern for many long-term holders regarding the "deviation from the original intention."
Conclusion: A game of "transformation" and "growing pains"
Elon Musk's actions have placed DOGE at a turning point in its fate. It is no longer just a "meme coin," yet it has not yet become a mature "payment currency"; the interests of miners are damaged, and the divergence of retail investors' faith indicates that the path to DOGE's "transformation" is bound to be filled with growing pains.
For investors, it is crucial to recognize that the value of DOGE has shifted from "Elon Musk's endorsement" to "the ability to implement use cases." Short-term price fluctuations should not be the core of decision-making; for the DOGE ecosystem, how to balance "practical transformation" with "miner interests," as well as "centralized efficiency" with "decentralized original intention," will be key to determining whether it can truly "revolutionize." The final result of this game may only become clear after the applications of Tesla and SpaceX are fully realized.
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