Elon Musk has just been bestowed the title ‘Technoking’ of Tesla. ‘Master of the Coin’ has also been given to the chief financial officer. Very good, m’lord.
This strange turn of events was first recorded via a filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It states that ‘Technoking’ is being added to Musk’s list of titles as CEO of Tesla. Similarly, Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn is having ‘Master of the Coin’ added to his title, as opposed to replacing it.
“Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer,” the filing says.
The company, nor Musk, have revealed the reason for the new titles. But it could have something to do with cryptocurrency.
In February, Tesla disclosed that it had purchased $2 billion worth of Bitcoin. The SEC filing regarding the incident revealed that the company will begin accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment:
In January 2021, we updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximise returns on our cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity.
As part of the policy, which was duly approved by the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, we may invest a portion of such cash in certain alternative reserve assets including digital assets, gold bullion, gold exchange-traded funds and other assets as specified in the future.
Thereafter, we invested an aggregate $US1.50 ($2) billion in bitcoin under this policy and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term. Moreover, we expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt.
Musk’s interest in crypto has also extended to Dogecoin. He tweeted about the meme coin regularly throughout February, sending the price soaring over 500 per cent with a market cap of $US6.63 billion.
This resulted in a rumour that Musk will be investigated by the SEC for market manipulation.
“I hope they do, it would be awesome,” Musk said on Twitter.
Unsurprisingly, this has only fuelled Musk’s Dogecoin tweets, which have continued well into March.
Doge day afternoon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2021
It’s entirely possible that the new titles are simply a troll to the SEC and the internet in general. It would certainly be on brand for Musk.