Cryptocurrency: Musk’s SpaceX to launch dogecoin moon mission

Elon Musk has said his rocket company SpaceX will now accept the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment.

In a tweet he said the commercial space exploration firm will launch the "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon" early next year.

It came as dogecoin continued to fall after the technology billionaire said on television that it was a "hustle".

Last month, he tweeted that SpaceX was going to put a "literal Dogecoin on the literal moon".

Canada's Geometric Energy Corporation announced the dogecoin-funded mission earlier on Sunday, although the statement did not reveal its financial value.

"This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce", SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero was quoted as saying in the statement.