The price of dogecoin has once again spiked following a tweet from meme-loving billionaire Elon Musk.
The cryptocurrency shot up by nearly 10 per cent on Thursday morning after Mr Musk tweeted an image from The Godfather, captioning the meme: “Release the Doge!”
Less than an hour later, Mr Musk tweeted lyrics to a parody of the popular children’s song Baby Shark, replacing the words with “baby Doge”.
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The market response for dogecoin was less pronounced than previous times Mr Musk has mentioned the meme-inspired cryptocurrency on Twitter.
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A series of tweets from the SpaceX and Tesla CEO in April saw dogecoin quadruple in price in just 24 hours, pushing it to new record highs above $0.40.
Dogecoin eventually peaked above $0.70 on 8 May when Mr Musk referenced it several times during his appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live.
It has since crashed and is currently trading at around $0.25, though this is still way up from this time last year, when one dogecoin was worth just two-tenths of a cent.
Dogecoin remains one of the top five most valuable cryptocurrencies – not including so-called stablecoins – and could be further boosted by Mr Musk’s plan to put a “literal dogecoin on the literal moon”.
He also announced his support for a proposed upgrade to dogecoin earlier this week, which would see the cost of transacting the cryptocurrency drop by around 100-times.
Mr Musk’s public interest in dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies has divided people in the space, with some concerned that his market-moving tweets are only exacerbating the issue of price volatility. Others say it helps draw attention to the industry and ultimately drives adoption.
“The main drivers behind dogecoin’s popularity is its online communities, coupled with support from high-profile business magnates like Elon Musk,” Michael Kamerman, CEO of fintech company Skilling, told The Independent earlier this year.
“It’s moved by headlines, tweets, celebrity or corporate endorsements, and while that’s likely belittled by ‘traditional’ investors, it’s what brings the masses to cryptocurrencies.”
