Self-proclaimed Dogefather Elon Musk finalizing his purchase of Twitter has led to a rally for the memecoin, which has skyrocketed more than 14% to a 30-day high of about 8 cents over the past 24 hours.
The cryptocurrency, which features a logo of a Shiba Inu, was created by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus in 2013 as a joke to make fun of crypto tokens. But during the meme-stock frenzy of 2021, the token soared in popularity, notching an all-time high of 73 cents in May 2021, according to CoinMarketCap. The token has stayed below 9 cents since May 2022, but the Tesla CEOs words and actions have often created majorhowever temporaryprice upswings.
Despite the tokens comical origins, Musk has often touted the cryptocurrency as a serious source of payment. In January, Musk said Tesla would begin accepting Dogecoin for merchandise, prompting a 14% price spike to around 20 cents, according to CoinMarketCap.
In April, as Musk flirted with the idea of buying Twitter he suggested Twitters subscription service Twitter Blue should also accept Doge. A month later, the SpaceX CEO tweeted that his rocket company would be joining Tesla in accepting Dogecoin for merchandise.
The token later dropped in price, but when Reuters reported that Twitter was preparing to accept Musks proposal to buy the social media company for $43 billion, it jumped 14% to about 14 cents.
Still, Musks comments and tweets about Dogecoin have also brought scrutiny. In June, an investor who lost money with Dogecoin sued Musk along with SpaceX and Tesla for $258 billion alleging that they were part of a racketeering scheme to boost Dogecoin.
Although Musk often interacts with Markus on Twitter, the cryptocurrencys other cocreator, Palmer, has previously called Musk a grifter who sells a vision in hopes that he can one day deliver what hes promising, but he doesnt know that. Hes just really good at pretending he knows.
Palmers comments have not stifled Musks support of the currency, though. Hes previously said he would not sell his Dogecoin holdings, and drove the point home in a June tweet: I will keep supporting Dogecoin.
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