The price of Dogecoin surged more than 60% on Thursday after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted about it. The meme cryptocurrency jumped 67.99% to $0.054496, according to data.
Musk first tweeted a picture of a rocket going to the moon, followed by the word “Doge”. He later tweeted an edited image of himself with the Shiba Inu dog — also the mascot for the cryptocurrency — before ending with a tweet that said: “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto.”
The tweet storm came after Musk vowed to take a break from Twitter. His announcement racked up over 90,000 ‘likes’ in a matter of minutes, along with thousands of reactions. However, Musk’s hiatus lasted all of two days as he returned to the platform to show his support for Dogecoin.
Elon Musk’s Tweets Propel Dogecoin and Other Stocks
Elon Musk, who recently became the world’s richest person, has 45.2 million followers on Twitter. He has been highly engaged in the recent retail trading frenzy. Tweeting about specific companies and cryptocurrencies while helping send their prices soaring.
Shares in GameStop, Etsy, and CD Projekt have jumped following comments from Elon Musk. He also added “#bitcoin” to his Twitter bio last week, prompting its price to go up.
Dogecoin was created as a satirical critique of the 2013 crypto frenzy, but can still be bought and sold on digital currency exchanges.
It regularly makes a comeback during viral crypto rallies, with individuals promoting it on social media. Last week it boomed after Carole Baskin, one of the stars of “Tiger King,” talked about it in a video.
Ethereum Futures on CME
Another altcoin gaining traction is Ethereum as investors look to buy it before the launch of Ethereum Futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week.
Ethereum rose to record high of $1,698.56 before giving up some of those gains to trade 2.7% lower in early London trading. Bitcoin, meanwhile, fell 1.2% to $37,184.
The first month of 2021 was record-setting for cryptocurrencies, as the total market value of all digital assets exceeded the $1 trillion mark for the first time earlier in January.
