Tesla To Accept Shiba Inu? Meme Coin's Name In Website Source Code Fires Up Speculation

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla might be planning to add the meme token Shiba Inu as a payment option, based on source code from the company's official website.

The information lit up a Reddit discussion forum when a user shared the source code, which was later confirmed by multiple social media users and known coders on Twitter and Reddit. The source code contains the name "SHIBA," which comes right after Bitcoin appears in the code -- strengthening the speculation.

Despite the lack of an official confirmation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk or from the company itself, many speculate the electric vehicle maker will soon begin to accept Shiba Inu as payment for its cars.

The meme token has been gaining momentum and many believe its listing on Robinhood is imminent.

The meme token became the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization last week, replacing the position long been held by Dogecoin. A petition on Change.org requesting to list Shiba Inu on the trading app now has 466,463 signatures.

Developers of the Shiba Inu initially marketed the meme token as a Dogecoin killer.

Speculations about Shiba Inu being a future payment option for Tesla products has stemmed from the actions of Musk himself. The maverick tech CEO is a major supporter of cryptocurrencies, including meme tokens. His tweets on Dogecoin have contributed heavily to the token's meteoric price rise.

Tesla has also invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin earlier in 2021 and even started accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars. While it is true that the company has stopped taking in Bitcoin due to environmental concerns, the company has held on to the majority of its Bitcoin investments.

Shiba Inu's SHIB coin is currently trading at $0.00007296, a slightly lower price than the all-time high price of $0.00008845. On Monday, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken indicated that it could list token on its platform.

The cryptocurrency's impressive price rise is equivalent to a more than 101 million percent year-to-date gains. It is reported that a mystery investor who invested $8,000 in Shiba Inu in August last year is sitting on meme token valued at $5.7 billion. If true, this is the most significant trade in any asset class known so far.