Elon Musk and his companies Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) are facing a $258 billion lawsuit in connection with their promotion of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reports .

The plaintiff, named Keith Johnson, claims that he “lost his money because of the crypto pyramid.” In his opinion, Musk and his companies created a fraudulent scheme to artificially inflate the value of Dogecoin.

“Defendants falsely claimed that the Dogecoin cryptocurrency is a prudent investment, even though it has no value at all,” the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court says.

In addition to damages, the plaintiff is demanding that the court ban Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin.

Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a joke, its symbol - the Doge meme - depicts a Shiba Inu dog. The cryptocurrency became popular in 2021, today it is trading at $0.057, since the beginning of this year its rate has fallen by 67%. Last year, the value of Dogecoin rose to $0.74.

Musk has previously stated that Tesla and SpaceX will sell their merchandise for Dogecoin. In January, he suggested that McDonald's start accepting the cryptocurrency, tweeting that he would "eat the Happy Meal on TV if McDonald's accepts Dogecoin."