Elon Musk told a California jury that most cryptocurrencies are scams during testimony tied to his legal dispute with OpenAI, marking a shift from his earlier pro-crypto stance.
The remarks came as Musk’s platform X rolled out a web version of its Cashtags feature, designed to turn ticker symbols into real-time trading feeds for stocks and crypto assets.
“Some of them have merit, but most of them are scams,”
Musk said in court, responding to questions about a proposed 2018 OpenAI token launch.
The Cashtags rollout includes safeguards such as contract address matching and restrictions on new crypto accounts, as X positions itself as a trading and market data hub.
Tesla continues to hold 11,509 Bitcoin worth about $786 million despite a markdown in Q1 2026, maintaining exposure after selling most of its holdings in 2022.
Musk previously helped drive crypto markets during the 2020–2021 cycle through Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase and his public support for Dogecoin and other assets.
The contrast between Musk’s courtroom scepticism and X’s expanding trading tools highlights a strategy that separates speculative tokens from curated, higher-quality market data offerings.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $76,430.74.