Dogecoin suddenly leaped to the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency on the planet Sunday after Tesla co-founder Elon Musk tweeted: “Who let the Doge out?”
The digital coin with a Shiba Inu theme hit its highest value ever at 8.2 cents a coin Sunday evening, Bloomberg reported. Its previous record in late January was 7.8 cents.
A week ago, Dogecoin was valued at just 2.5 cents. According to data tracker CoinMarketCap, it rocketed more than 53% in a 24-hour period ending Sunday, to a market value of $10 billion.
The zooming value was the latest indication that traded values aren’t as reasonable as Wall Street denizens would like the public to believe since the wild roller coaster of GameStop trading. (Musk tweeted “Gamestonk!” while that was unfolding.)
Dogecoin launched in 2013 as a joke that mocked the idea of digital currency. But it has recently become the darling of social media and gained an extra powerful boost from Musk:
For the first time ever late last month, Dogecoin was mentioned on Twitter more than Bitcoin during a 24-hour period.
Musk appears to be highlighting some of the potential problems with heavyweight social media influence on cryptocurrency values. Other celebrities are also getting in on Musk’s latest shiny thing, including KISS rocker Gene Simmons:
And rapper Snoop Dogg:
Bitcoin, the real big dog in the cryptocurrency competition, has also been wagging its tail. It topped a record $40,000 a coin in trading Saturday, boosting its total value to $1.2 trillion, Bloomberg reported.