Musk testifies in court: Beyond Bitcoin, most cryptocurrencies are scams

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, during testimony in a lawsuit involving OpenAI, was asked about an ICO fundraising concept that OpenAI had discussed years earlier, and unexpectedly made remarks about the crypto market. He said, “Some cryptocurrencies have value, but most are scams.” Many veterans who went through the ICO era may sigh at this: if back then OpenAI had raised funds in the form of an ICO, would it have become one of the most successful cryptocurrencies—or would it have been unable to escape the speculative nature, ultimately heading toward a bubble?

OpenAI once tried to raise funds via an ICO

According to Fortune, during testimony in his lawsuit against OpenAI, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked about an ICO fundraising plan OpenAI had discussed early on, and he unexpectedly commented on the crypto market. He said, “Some cryptocurrencies have value, but most are scams.” These remarks have also prompted the public to reexamine Musk’s contradictory attitude toward Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and the crypto market in recent years.

The core of this lawsuit is not cryptocurrencies, but whether OpenAI has deviated from its nonprofit mission at the time of its founding. Musk accuses OpenAI of having strayed from the original goal of “developing AI for the benefit of all humanity” after establishing deep commercial cooperation with Microsoft, and he even referred to OpenAI and Sam Altman and others in court as having “stolen a charity.” OpenAI, however, counters that Musk already knew the company could shift to a for-profit structure, and argues that his lawsuit is related to competitive interests between it and its AI company, xAI.

Musk’s comments on crypto came from the court’s questioning of OpenAI’s 2018 ICO fundraising plan. An ICO was the hottest fundraising model in the crypto market from 2017 to 2018. Many projects raised money quickly by issuing tokens, but at the same time, they were accompanied by large-scale scams, lack of information transparency, and regulatory controversies. Musk’s remarks in court amounted to acknowledging that cryptocurrencies are not entirely without value, but also classifying most tokens in the market as speculative products lacking real underlying support.

Many veterans who went through the ICO era may sigh at this: if back then OpenAI had raised funds in the form of an ICO, would it have become one of the most successful cryptocurrencies—or would it have been unable to escape the speculative nature, ultimately heading toward a bubble?

The twists and turns of Musk and Bitcoin, Dogecoin

However, Musk’s relationship with cryptocurrencies has always been full of drama. During the pandemic, he repeatedly publicly supported Bitcoin and Dogecoin. He even had Tesla, in 2021, announce that it would invest $1.5 billion to buy Bitcoin, sparking a wave of corporate treasury allocations to BTC. Tesla later sold about 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in 2022. At the time, Musk explained that it was mainly to increase cash positions amid COVID lockdowns in China and disruptions to the Shanghai factory.

(When money reaches the end, “energy” becomes a medium of exchange: is Musk’s cosmic vision prophecy or delusion?)

This transaction also became a focus of market discussion afterward. Because Bitcoin rebounded sharply in subsequent bull markets, the portion Tesla sold early was seen as having missed out on massive potential gains. According to market-tracking data, Tesla currently still holds about 11,509 Bitcoins. As of the first quarter of 2026, the value of its holdings had fallen to about $786 million due to Bitcoin’s decline, but it remains higher than the estimated original cost of about $386 million.

In other words, Musk’s criticism in court that “most cryptocurrencies are scams” does not mean he fully denies Bitcoin or crypto assets. It is more like drawing a distinction between a small number of assets like Bitcoin and a large number of speculative tokens. But for the market, these remarks still carry symbolic weight: a tech billionaire who once sent Dogecoin soaring, got Tesla to buy Bitcoin, and also caused the market to swing violently with his tweets—now, in OpenAI’s lawsuit testimony, has admitted in his own words that “most of the crypto market is scams.”

This article: Musk testified in court: Besides Bitcoin, most cryptocurrencies are scams. First appeared on: Chain News ABMedia.