Dogecoin jumps 94% following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter

While Elon Musk has ostensibly released Twitter from its cage, the popular meme coin Dogecoin has emerged from the niche of the cryptographic winter.

the bird is freed

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

The coin experienced an extended rally after the world’s richest man acquired the social networking giant, briefly doubling in value to 14 cents per Doge earlier this week. It now sits at 11 cents at the time of writing, up 94 percent in the past week, according to CoinGecko.

The billionaire’s outsized impact on Dogecoin is nothing new, but the coin has reached prices this week not seen since May. Elon Musk hasn’t mentioned the coin since he completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, but he has responded to tweets from Billy Markus, one of the developers of Dogecoin, on several occasions.

In the past week, the total value of Dogecoin has risen from about $8.1 billion to $15.9 billion at the time of this writing, surpassing coins such as Cardano and Solana, according to CoinGecko. It is now the eighth-largest crypto-currency in terms of market capitalization.

The coin has also seen notable volume on major crypto-currency exchanges over the past day. Totaling $302 million over the past 24 hours, Dogecoin is currently the third most traded token on Coinbase, accounting for over 14% of the exchange’s total trading volume.

On Binance, exchanges between the stablecoin Tether and Dogecoin have totaled $1.8 billion in the past 24 hours, accounting for 10% of the exchange’s total trading volume. Trading between Dogecoin and Binance USD, the exchange’s native stablecoin, also crossed the $900 million mark, accounting for 5% of total trading volume.

The coin is still down 84% from an all-time high of 73 cents, set in May 2021, the day Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, the late-night TV comedy show. The coin plunged 35 percent after Musk’s appearance, which called Dogecoin “future of currency“, but also called it “scam“.

The rise in popularity of Dogecoin can be attributed in part to Musk’s multi-year relationship with the token, referenced in numerous tweets and adopted as a method of payment for certain products and services offered by Musk’s companies.

Some Tesla products can be purchased on the automaker’s website using Dogecoin, and The Boring Company is accepting crypto-currency as a payment method for use of its Las Vegas loop. In April, Musk also floated the idea of letting Twitter users pay for their premium subscription service, Twitter Blue, using dogecoins.

Yes, should be proportionate to affordability & in local currency

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2022

Musk’s affection for crypto-currency goes back to 2019, when he tweeted “Dogecoin may be my favorite crypto-currency.“Since then, he has referenced the coin by sharing multiple memes on his newly acquired platform.

It’s inevitable pic.twitter.com/eBKnQm6QyF

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2020

Not everyone believes that Musk acted in good faith in espousing the meme coin. In June, a $258 billion lawsuit was filed against Musk, SpaceX and Tesla for allegedly pumping the coin.

The closure of the Musk case also impacted other dog-themed coins, such as Shiba Inu and Dogechain, up 19% and 100% this week, respectively.