Billionaire Elon Musk’s integration of Dogecoin payments into any of his companies has been a hot topic of discussion for years. With Musk finally taking over Twitter and renaming it X, expectations are that DOGE payments on the social media platform will be implemented soon. While this has yet to come to fruition, there are clues that Musk may be preparing to integrate DOGE payments, as community members have come to expect.
Musk builds custom Dogecoin payment system for Tesla
One of Musk's companies, Tesla, implemented Bitcoin payments for its electric cars in 2021 but discontinued the feature soon after. Since then, the company no longer accepts crypto payments for its vehicles, but it has implemented crypto payments for goods, and that cryptocurrency is Dogecoin.
Following the integration of Dogecoin payments, a community member named @Dogecoin_Wins shared a particularly interesting fact on X (formerly Twitter) about how the company chose to implement this implementation. They point out that Elon Musk-led Tesla actually built its own DOGE-only payment system, rather than using third-party services to implement crypto payments like other companies.
This fully blockchain-based payment system is significant because it is no small thing. As Dogecoin community members pointed out, Musk will have to hire many employees, including “blockchain experts, developers, security experts.” Not only that, but there's also the issue of hiring "customer service agents who know how to do refunds within the blockchain and answer more complex questions than CS agents are used to."
All in all, the company has to spend a lot of resources building this infrastructure. Community members put the number around 7 figures. Now, for a company of Tesla's size to build such expensive and time-consuming infrastructure instead of using a third party could be a sign that they intend to continue using the product and not just for the sake of merchandise. Given this, community members concluded: “Elon is serious about Doge.”
Why build a DOGE-only payments infrastructure?
In follow-up posts, Dogecoin community members shared their thoughts on why Tesla built this infrastructure. According to them, this is not just a payment for Tesla merchandise. Instead, the first reason is that the company wants to build its own native Dogecoin payment processor.
Next, they said the company is also trying to train its own customer service team on specific blockchain technologies. Additionally, they want to know about common issues that can arise when accepting cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin for payment.
The fourth reason outlined is that the company is trying to learn and come up with solutions to problems that may arise with crypto payments. Fifth, they are trying to do all of this "through limited low-volume/low-price/low-risk merchandising options."
@Dogecoin_Wins ended the discussion with a concise statement:
It’s much easier to sell a $20 coffee mug than an $80,000 car. You know, the real purpose of all this effort is not to sell coffee mugs and belt buckles. The ultimate purpose is to sell cars. #DOGE #支付系统
