Elon Musk said most cryptocurrencies are "scams" during his Thursday testimony in the OpenAI trial, according to a reporter covering the case.
Musk’s Response To Initial Coin Offering Question
Mike Isaac, a tech reporter from The New York Times, quoted Musk explaining cryptocurrency to the jury in the Federal Courthouse in downtown Oakland.
“Some of them have merit, but most of them are scams,” Musk was quoted as saying.
The comment was in response to a question about OpenAI’s reported plans to raise funds through an initial coin offering—a cryptocurrency-based fundraising—in 2018, Issac said.
Benzinga couldn’t independently verify Musk’s statements. Tesla, SpaceX and xAI didn’t immediately return requests to confirm.
Musk’s Hot And Cold Crypto Relationship
Musk’s views on cryptocurrency have been a topic of discussion for a while. During a Joe Rogan podcast in 2025, he compared investing in meme coins to playing in a casino, suggesting that expecting to win in either case is foolish. He also warned against pouring life savings into such assets.
But this contrasts with his fondness for Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) investments of his mobility giant, Tesla.
Tesla holds roughly $887 million in Bitcoin, per on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. As for DOGE, Musk said in February that his space technology company, SpaceX, would likely put the memecoin "on the moon" in 2026.
The OpenAI Lawsuit
Musk has sued OpenAI for $150 billion in damages, alleging that co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman betrayed the start-up’s founding non-profit mission by turning the organization into a for-profit entity.
Musk invested in the company before quitting in 2018 due to a disagreement over its direction.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock.com
Login to comment