Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been slammed with a fresh lawsuit by investors, accusing him of insider trading and manipulating the price of Dogecoin which cost them billions of dollars.

In a filing on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Southern District of New York, U.S., investors stated that Musk engaged in a deliberate act of manipulation, which saw him pay influencers as well as other publicity stunts, with the intention to pump Dogecoin’s price at their expense.

Musk’s stunts include his public appearances, a reference to his 2021 appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” where he told viewers to invest in Dogecoin, and social media activities hyping the cryptocurrency. These stunts reportedly boosted Dogecoin’s price by 36,000% to $0.70+ in May 2021. Today, DOGE trades 90% down from that high. 

Part of the lawsuit filing reads, “Musk’s pretense that promotion of Dogecoin was just well-meaning fun, not meant to be taken seriously is not credible”.  A key part of the lawsuit is the presupposition that Dogecoin is an unregistered security under existing standards from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

This amended complaint, which is investors’ third change since the lawsuit started last June, contains a fresh allegation that Musk sold dogecoin worth about $124 million after he switched Twitter’s logo to a Shiba Inu dog in April, that caused the token’s price to surge by 30%.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims to have tracked down a wallet address that allegedly belonged to Musk and became the largest single holder of Dogecoin by February 2021. The wallet is reported to have sold millions of dollars worth of Dogecoin at multiple times throughout April 2021.

These investors accuse Musk of deliberately driving up Dogecoin’s price to more than 36,000% over two years, and eventually letting it crash.

Meanwhile, in response to an earlier iteration of the lawsuit slammed by investors, Musk’s lawyers said his statements were too vague to be considered fraud and called the lawsuit a fantasy. “There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion,” Musk’s lawyers said at the time,

Recall that Dogecoin according to Musk was created as a joke and has no practical use case. In 2021, Musk said that his social media posts about meme cryptocurrency dogecoin are “just meant to be jokes” and his true allegiance lies elsewhere.

Musk had conceded in the Clubhouse interview that he doesn’t have a strong opinion about tokens outside of Bitcoin, the world’s dominant crypto.

Meanwhile, Investors King understands that the billionaire CEO’s favorite crypto was never clear, but had repeatedly appeared to endorse dogecoin launched in 2013 using the branding of a Shiba Inu dog from a then-popular internet meme to his millions of Twitter followers.

Largest stablecoin issuer in the market Tether has recovered all of the $20 billion it lost in 2022, after TerraUSD collapsed as it hits a new record-breaking market capitalization of $83.2 billion.

Tether’s proven resilience and unwavering commitment to industry-leading transparency practices, and its ability to weather market volatility have solidified its reputation as a trustworthy platform.

Speaking on its recovery and record-high market capitalization, CTO of Tether Paolo Ardoino said,

“Today’s numbers demonstrate that people want access to financial freedom, and when given that access, they will make use of it. Between our battle-tested resilience in the face of market volatility and our industry-leading transparency practices, Tether has proven that it can be trusted, and customers are responding in kind.

“Tether tokens offer a safe harbor for the unbanked and allow people in emerging markets to keep their buying power, even when their national currency is being devalued”.

Analysts at digital asset research Conor Ryder said that Tether’s rise suggests peg stability is far more important for most stablecoin holders than issuer transparency.

The company’s recent surge in market capitalization and its successful recovery from last year’s setback signify a pivotal moment for stablecoins and the overall crypto landscape. It also reinforces Tether’s position as a trusted and resilient player, instilling confidence in investors and further solidifying stablecoins as a crucial component of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Tether’s judicious management of its assets has been instrumental in this recovery. With approximately 85% of its holdings in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term deposits, it exhibits a robust asset base.

Recall that the instability that shook the crypto market last year saw Tether as well as other stable coins lose a huge part of their market cap which saw investors exit the market in drove.

Meanwhile, Investors King understands that while Tether has managed to recover its market value other stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC), have struggled to regain their previous market capitalization levels.  Analysts suggest that it implies that investors’ confidence may not be fully restored in the stablecoin sector yet.

The Central African Republic, a landlocked country in Central Africa has recently passed a law that allows foreign investment in cryptocurrencies after it adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender last year.

Announcing the passage of this law, the CAR government said,

“The new law for the tokenization of natural resources sets down the framework for using Bitcoin and the country’s virtual currency, Sango, in the investment process. This includes foreign nationals wishing to invest in mining, agricultural, and forestry assets.

“Investors have the right to transfer abroad all annual profits accruing to them after payment of taxes, duties, and other obligations”.

Investors King understands that CAR is the first country in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, and the second in the world after El Salvador.

This decision has however put the country at odds with the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), the regional central bank that serves the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), which the Central African Republic is a member of and violates the CEMAC Treaty.

President of Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadéra disclosed that the country’s crypto coin ‘Sango Coin’, which was launched in July last year, will be the next-generation currency for the country and will be a gateway to the country’s natural resources.

He said that Sango Coin is part of the CAR’s vision to have an integrated capital market that could stimulate commerce and sustain growth. He talked about the need for financial inclusion and the need for the country’s citizens to easily have access to cryptocurrencies via smartphones.

Explaining the project’s benefits, he stated that the citizens will gain at every level, as they will live in a country in full economic development, which means employment and prosperity.

Moreover, they will benefit from virtual transactions, which in contrast to traditional banking, have the advantage of rapid access, fast execution, lack of bureaucracy, and low cost. For us, a formal economy is no longer an option.”