Musk crowns himself ‘Technoking of Tesla’ – as finance boss becomes ‘master of coin’

Science

Elon Musk has crowned himself the “technoking of Tesla”, according to a regulatory filing that appears to celebrate the company’s cryptocurrency investments.

The official document, which added the bizarre title to the list covering Musk, was sent to US stock market regulator the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but offered no reason for the coronation.

It also showed that the electric car company had added “master of coin” to finance chief Zachary Kirkhorn’s list of titles.

Musk, Tesla‘s founder and chief executive, has been credited with driving a surge of interest in cryptocurrencies this year.

Elon Musk has written many tweets endorsing Bitcoin - with Tesla recently investing $1.5 billion
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Elon Musk has been among a few US corporate leaders to have endorsed Bitcoin

Values have hit record levels as a result.

Last month, Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5bn (£1.1bn) of bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars.

Musk has also recently promoted another digital currency, dogecoin, on Twitter.

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But his Twitter posts have often placed Musk on a collision course with the SEC.

He was fined $20m by the SEC in 2018 and had to give up his dual chairman role at the company after being accused of making “false and misleading” tweets about potentially taking Tesla private.

The SEC, as part of the settlement with the company to avoid a fraud lawsuit, made a further condition that Musk agree to clear market-sensitive posts before publication.

At the weekend, it was revealed that an investor was suing Musk and Tesla for allegedly violating that agreement with the regulator.

Chase Gharrity’s claims relate to several tweets including Musk’s assessment, in May last year, that Tesla’s stock price was “too high”. Tesla’s market value lost $13bn at the time though it has since hit record levels.

Bitcoin hit fresh highs of almost $62,000 over the weekend but retreated by 5% early on Monday.

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