Elon Musk’s recent tweet concerning the ‘joke’ cryptocurrency Dogecoin has left the internet asking questions about his intentions. The eccentric entrepreneur is known for his cryptic tweets and many were left wondering if his latest tweet was a lead up to something bigger.
Musk had tweeted, “Doge barking at the moon,” and this is not the first time he has done so in favour of the cryptocurrency. Back in February, he had also tweeted posts concerning the same. Dogecoin has ridden Elon Musk’s tweet to the top, reaching an all-time high of $.1226680 or almost 12 cents. The surge is spectacular given its 1,900% return rate since January 2021.
But what really is Dogecoin?
It all started out as a joke. In December 2013, Jackson Palmer, an Adobe engineer, and Billy Markus, an IBM software engineer, got together and created the cryptocurrency for fun. Anyone who has been on the internet would have come across or heard about the ‘Doge’ meme, which features the iconic Shiba Inu. The meme served as an inspiration for the cryptocurrency and even has the photo of the Shiba Inu on it.
Cryptocurrency gained immense popularity on Reddit and was used by ‘Redditors’ as a token of respect or affection that they sent to each other on the platform. Despite its huge popularity, it still existed below the radar until Musk started endorsing it. His tweets about how he would put a Dogecoin on the moon and other cryptic tweets have sent the ‘meme coin’ headed for the stars.
Compared to its cryptocurrency counterparts like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Dogecoin has grown significantly faster, registering a 1,163% growth between December 31, 2020 and April 12, 2021. For comparison, Bitcoin recorded 104% and Ethereum a 193% growth in the same period.
The strong showing by Dogecoin and Elon Musk’s actions has prompted other celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Gene Simmons to endorse the same. Organisations like the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA and Musk’s own Tesla have also begun accepting Dogecoin as payment. Such developments have reinforced hopes that Dogecoin would one day become legal tender.
However, industry experts like Monark Modi, CEO of Bitex, said, “As Dogecoin is purely community-driven as of now, it is not likely to receive any institutional adoption at the moment. This is also given due to the fact that unlike Bitcoin, there is no limit to the number of Dogecoins that will be created.”
Nevertheless, one must take statements from experts with a pinch of salt. The GameStop saga showed the world that even communities are a force to be reckoned with.