Dogecoin has seen its prices steadily rising over the week.
Co-founded by then IBM software engineer Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer in December 2013, the cryptocurrency derives its name from one the internet's beloved memes - the Doge (A Shiba Inu dog superimposed on pictures with humorous commentary in comic sans - much wow, such talent, anyone?).
The use of Doge as official imagery for the digital currency has constantly connected it to memes on the internet. Recently on April 15, Tesla Technoking posted a tweet: “Doge Barking at the Moon” (sic)Doge Barking at the Moon pic.twitter.com/QFB81D7zOL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2021
The attached picture is of the painting ‘Dog Barking at the Moon’ (1926) by Spanish sculptor-painter Joan Miró. The painting is today carried in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The post many believe nudged Dogecoin prices upwards.
Prior to this on April 6, Musk posted a doge meme without caption – but many concluded that it was connected to Dogecoin given that Musk also posted multiple doge memes (including one depicting the Lion King showcasing doge superimposed on Simba being lifted in the air) in February 2021 and has been an active advocate of fellow cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021
In fact, Musk's posts in February were more open, where he proclaimed Dogecoin as "the people's crypto". Musk had then clarified that his posts on Dogecoin "are really just meant to be jokes" but it had led to prices shooting up by 50 percent.
At its surge then, Dogecoin's market capitalisation was $5.8 billion dollars, placing it 15th in the cryptocurrency league table. Neil Wilson, analyst for Markets.com told AFP that Musk's tweets push prices higher because he has "such a strong following both on social media and as a businessman."
Dogecoin prices peaked at 2 cents in 2018 before crashing down and by 2019 the cryptocurrency had lost nearly 90 percent of its value…until now.
When it was founded in 2013, the creators said it was "intended as an ironic response to two big internet phenomena that year" - Bitcoin and doge meme, but the currency has since gained unironic users especially on Reddit and 4chan. It reached market capitalisation of $5,382,875,000 on January 28.
(With inputs from AFP)