Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has offered a bounty of one million Dogecoins, valued at around $84,000, for anyone who can provide evidence that their family has owned an emerald mine.
Musk, who was born in South Africa to an upper-middle-class family, has been plagued by rumours that he inherited his wealth.
While news reports suggest that his father, Errol, had an interest in an emerald mine, Musk himself has denied this claim, stating his father "didn't own an emerald mine".
However, a 2014 Forbes interview with Musk has been cited as evidence of the mine's existence. In the interview, he claimed his father had "a share in an emerald mine in Zambia". While the article has been removed from the Forbes website, it is still available on the internet archive. Fact-checking site Snopes, however, claimed there is no evidence to support the emerald mine rumour.
Musk's offer of a bounty for proof of the mine's existence has caused a stir in the Dogecoin community, with the memecoin's value rising by almost 8 per cent at one point.
The rumours gained fresh traction after Musk's takeover of Twitter, and a video was posted by Robert Reich, a Berkeley professor and former United States Secretary of Labor, arguing that several billionaires had privileged upbringings despite being described as "self-made".
The video cited the example of Musk's family owning an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa and suggested that it was this seed money that made it possible for him to become the American billionaire he is today. These claims drew a sharp backlash from Musk, who called Reich an "idiot and a liar".
In an effort to set the record straight, a designer at Dogecoin offered 69,420 Dogecoins to any media outlet that can prove the existence of the mine. Musk then upped the reward to one million Dogecoins.
Disney settles suit over women's pay for $43 million
Etihad Airways adds ten new destinations for 2025
Trump pledges new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China
UAE and Bahrain finalise ICV programmes procedures
