A giant statue of Elon Musk's head has gone viral online
A giant statue of Elon Musk's head on the body of a goat riding a rocket has gone viral online after it was given to Musk himself at Tesla's headquarters in Austin, Texas, on Saturday. This appears to have been a marketing stunt for cryptocurrencies. The strange monument is 30 feet tall and weighs about 12,000 pounds. It cost a huge $600,000. Kevin Stone, a Canadian sculptor, spent about six months just on the head. The strange metal beast looks like it was made by the people who started the memecoin Elon GOAT Token (EGT), a little-known cryptocurrency that came out in January. It recently went on tour on top of a semi-trailer through California, Arizona, and Washington. It ended its trip this past weekend in Austin for "GOATsgiving."
An epic gift to go down in history?
Musk hasn't said who the gift is for in public yet, but it has gotten a lot of attention from the media. The strange sculpture shows the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter wearing a gold-plated necklace with the token for Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that many people think of as the first memecoin. It became very popular after Musk talked about it. With their epic gift, the people behind EGT may have hoped to make history. They said on Twitter, "We think our hard work can help Elon claim #ElonGOAT, and we will work toward this goal!" "You could also have some fun!"
The plan had short-term effects by driving up the price of EGT
Alec Wolvert, co-founder and chief marketing officer of EGT, told the Wall Street Journal, "We're going to stay [outside Tesla's headquarters] as long as we can." "I even heard some people say they were going to tie themselves to it." Ashley Sansalone, another co-founder, said that if Elon tweeted about us, it would make the token more real. In its own Whitepaper, the organization acknowledged these strategies but promised to make the cryptocurrency more than just a memecoin. "Initially, $EGT was criticized for its aggressive marketing plan that focused on Elon, since it didn't show any real benefits," it said. So far, the plan doesn't look like it worked, but it did have some short-term effects. Hype is still a strong driver of value in the crypto space, and EGT's price briefly went up after the sculpture was delivered.
Selena Mattei