Dogecoin prices often rise and fall on the tweets of Elon Musk, one of its long-time fans.
Dreamstime
Dogecoin,
Shiba Inu,
and at least one other dog-themed meme cryptocurrency got a spike after Elon Musk teased the group of tokens with photos of his dog posted on Twitter. Musk’s ability to move “memecoin” markets shows few signs of abating.
While they are called memecoins because they were principally developed as mostly internet jokes rather than serious blockchain projects, this group of cryptos has grown to be more than a prank. Dogecoin is the ninth-largest digital asset and has inspired dozens of spinoffs, including Shiba Inu, which is the 13th-largest crypto. Dogecoin is based on a meme involving a Shiba Inu dog called “doge.”
And Musk is a fan. The
Tesla
(ticker: TSLA) CEO and Twitter owner has been associated with Dogecoin for years, dubbing himself the “Dogefather” and hyping it through tweets and references on television over the years. It has helped Dogecoin, and its peers, sometimes buck the trend of other cryptos, which tend to trade in close step with the price of Bitcoin.
Musk even owns a Shiba Inu dog named Floki, inspiring a crypto called Floki that has a market capitalization of more than $290 million. Seriously. And it was Floki—the dog, not the coin—that is behind the recent memecoin surge.
The billionaire businessman tweeted three images of what appeared to be his dog in an office chair at a desk filled with Twitter paraphernalia. “The new CEO of Twitter is amazing,” Musk posted. “He is perfect for the job.”
There has been recent speculation over how much longer Musk will stay in the top role at Twitter, which he acquired last year in a contentious takeover that has since seen him lay off swathes of the company’s employees. His tweets were likely a reference to that speculation—and came around the same time as remarks at Dubai’s World Government Summit, where he said he would likely stay as CEO until the end of 2023.
Nevertheless, the memecoins got a boost. Dogecoin has risen 6% over the past 24 hours—outperforming
Bitcoin,
up 3%—with its main spike coming within minutes of Musk’s tweet. Shiba Inu has gained 5% over the same period and Floki has ripped 45% higher, with trading volumes in the smaller token soaring 500%.
While Musk’s shiba inu antics look limited to public discourse over his tenure at Twitter, memecoin bulls may be seeing more. Dogecoin in particular surged on both Musk’s Twitter takeover and news that he may want to incorporate payments including crypto onto the social media platform—raising hopes that the namecoin could see a genuine use case.
There’s little to suggest Musk’s tweets were hinting at that, or that crypto payments are coming any time soon. But that’s unlikely to stop memecoins making moves whenever Musk mentions them.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
Credit: marketwatch.com