Elon Musk told a court in Oakland that most crypto projects are scams, according to CoinDesk reporting that references a post by New York Times reporter Mike Isaac.
The courtroom question focused on OpenAI’s 2018 token fundraising idea. The source explains that an ICO involves selling tokens to raise cash and notes that the late-2010s ICO boom later saw many projects collapse after receiving funding.
CoinDesk says Musk brought the 2018 OpenAI token plan into a broader dispute with Sam Altman. The reporting frames Musk’s argument as a claim that OpenAI broke its founding agreement by building a commercial business and taking major investment from Microsoft. The source adds that Musk said OpenAI “[stole] a charity,” and that OpenAI denies his version of events.
According to the source, OpenAI says Musk knew a for-profit structure might be needed to raise sufficient money. CoinDesk also says OpenAI described Musk as supportive of the ICO plan in a company blog post that would have included a for-profit arm, which the source frames as a pushback against the idea that the commercial structure emerged unexpectedly.
The same reporting links Musk’s broader comments on crypto to his earlier high-visibility role. It recalls Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase in 2021, Tesla’s later sale of 75% of its Bitcoin in mid-2022, and mentions regulatory filings that showed Tesla reduced the value of remaining Bitcoin in Q1 2026. The source also cites Tesla listed $786 million in crypto holdings and recorded an after-tax impairment loss of $173 million, and it references a Bitcoin trading figure “at the time of writing.”
Finally, the reporting notes that Musk’s testimony is part of accusations that Altman and OpenAI have harassment claims, and that they say the lawsuit aims to hurt a rival to xAI, the AI company Musk co-founded in 2023. In that context, the source describes the court issue as involving charity promises, AI funding, Microsoft, and the older ICO fundraising concept.