"Impoverished" trillionaire: Elon Musk receives donations via XMoney — meme or new trend?
Users of social network X have launched an ironic but very real fundraising campaign for Elon Musk. The billionaire, whose fortune shrank from a historic $1.4 trillion to $943 billion in two weeks, suddenly became the target of mass micro-transfers via the XMoney payment service.
A meme that went viral
The joke turned into a viral flash mob amid the sharp decline in the businessman's capital. The founder of Tesla and SpaceX lost the title of the first dollar trillionaire in history, and users decided to "support" him with symbolic amounts.
A blogger under the nickname Corey published a screenshot of a $25 transaction, accompanied by a laconic caption: "Buy coffee on me." In his post, he wrote: "Call me an idiot, but I just sent $25 directly to Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, through XMoney for no reason — just because I can."
Musk himself did not ignore the publication. He reacted to the transfer with a short reply: "Thanks." Some commenters immediately declared their readiness to also send money if the billionaire replied to their posts. The ironic initiative quickly turned into a mass flash mob within the new payment service.
Why Musk lost the trillionaire title
The main reason for the wave of joking donations was the sudden drop in the businessman's income. Musk became the world's only dollar trillionaire in June 2026, when his fortune reached $1.4 trillion. However, a global correction began on the stock market, affecting the technology sector and the artificial intelligence industry.
Stock market fluctuations deprived the businessman of the symbolic title. The decline occurred due to a massive sell-off on the stock market, which hit his two key assets hard. Despite this, the founder of SpaceX confidently holds the first place in the ranking of the richest people on the planet, significantly surpassing the resources of his main competitors, including Jeff Bezos and Larry Page.
Expert comment: This case is an excellent illustration of how new payment tools embedded in social platforms are becoming not just a means of payment, but a tool for cultural interaction. Here, XMoney acts not so much as a financial system, but as a new channel for viral content and social memes. The question is whether Musk can monetize this wave of attention, or whether it will remain just a funny episode.