Coinspeaker
Dogecoin Community Celebrates: US Federal Judge Dismisses $258B Lawsuit that Accused Musk of Market Manipulation
After more than a year of court battles, Dogecoin (DOGE) is finally free following a ruling by United States District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, which dismissed the lawsuit against tech billionaire Elon Musk and his company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). According to court records dated August 29, the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case due to lack of merit was granted prejudice, indicating the complainant cannot reopen the case again.
Several Dogecoin’s investors led by Colby Gorog, Joshua Flint, and Louis Robinson, among others, filed a lawsuit in 2022 accusing Musk of exercising Dogecoin’s pump and dump. Specifically, a few Dogecoin investors accused Musk of advertising the meme coin through his X, formerly Twitter, account.
As a result, the plaintiffs noted that Dogecoin price pumped 36,000 percent before Musk allowed it to significantly dump during the 2022 crash. The plaintiffs, therefore, asked the court to charge Musk $258 billion, which would have wiped out his entire net worth if it went through.
According to Judge Hellerstein, no reasonable investor ought to have relied on social media posts to pursue securities fraud claims.
“As for Musk and Tesla’s alleged pump and dump scheme, it is not possible to understand the allegations that form the basis of the plaintiff’s conclusion of market manipulation, a pump and dump scheme, a breach of a fiduciary duty amounting to insider trading, or the state law claims,” the Judge ruled.
What the Court Ruling Means for Dogecoin Community
The dismissal of the lawsuit against Musk is a huge win for the Dogecoin community. Moreover, it is safe to assume that Dogecoin has managed to remain the undisputed meme coin, despite the rise of similar projects on Solana and Ethereum, majorly due to the support from Musk and his family of companies.
AI Said: Elon Musk can still accept Dogecoin as payment at Tesla and promote it. The court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit does not prevent Musk or Tesla from continuing to use or promote Dogecoin.
The dismissal was based on the idea that Musk’s statements about Dogecoin were…
— Doge Whisperer 🐕 (@TDogewhisperer) August 30, 2024
With the X platform anticipated to launch its payment services soon, the Dogecoin community hopes for the integration to boost its use case. Additionally, Musk has in the past announced that Dogecoin can be used to purchase Tesla products and also in SpaceX products.
Impact on DOGE Price Action
Following the August 5 crypto crash, Dogecoin price has continued to hover around 10 cents in the recent past. The meme lord altcoin, with a duly diluted valuation of about $14.7 billion and a daily average traded volume of around $500 million, had dropped around 6 percent in the past week to trade around $0.1011 on Friday during the mid-London session.
From a technical standpoint, Dogecoin price has gradually been following Bitcoin’s price action in the recent past, signaling heightened confidence among investors.
As a result, the proof-of-work (PoW) secured meme coin, which takes pride in more than 7.4 million holders and over 347 million on-chain transactions, could continue dropping in the near term before the anticipated crypto rebound in the fourth quarter.
