Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches a course on “Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.”
These past few weeks have been tumultuous, especially for newbies to the crypto market. First, on May 8, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), was the host of Saturday Night Live where he promoted Dogecoin (DOGE) — a highly speculative, volatile cryptocurrency with present meaningful business model other than being a meme for tipping others. Then, a few days later, Musk dissed Bitcoin (BTC) in a tweet, stating that Tesla would no longer allow purchases of its electric vehicles with BTC because of its purported substantial, environmentally unfriendly energy usage.