Dogecoin was actually intended as a parody of Bitcoin and the many other crypto currencies. An inside joke that has now reached gigantic proportions. Dogecoin today has a market cap of more than $ 78 billion. That’s pretty much money for a joke. Especially since this sum even exceeds the gross domestic product of Luxembourg. The meme currency also owes its success in part to Elon Musk, whom Binance boss Changpeng Zhao described in February as the “cool, funny PR manager” of Dogecoin. A few years ago Musk had absolutely nothing to do with cryptocurrencies.
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As recently as 2014, Musk explained in an interview that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were “in primarily a means of conducting illegal transactions ”. Although he classified Bitcoin as “probably a good thing”, he said at the same time that he did not own any. Even four years later, his interest in cryptocurrencies was apparently still low. On Twitter, he stated that he only had 0.25 bitcoin, which he had from a friend. Apart from that, however, “zero cryptocurrencies” are in his possession. Only since 2019 does Musk seem to take the topic more seriously. In a podcast he called the Bitcoin architecture “pretty ingenious” and also spoke appreciatively about the advantages of Ethereum. Shortly afterwards, the Tesla boss discovered Dogecoin for himself.
The billionaire and the meme currency
On April 2, 2019, Musk first publicly mentioned Dogecoin and immediately named it his “favorite crypto currency”. The Dogecoin course then increased significantly within the next two days. In December 2020, Musk even began to refer to the meme currency on a regular basis, which repeatedly led to price movements. For example, on February 4, 2021, Musk only tweeted the word “Doge”, and in the following four days the Dogecoin price rose about 120 percent. At that time, other well-known personalities jumped on the Dogecoin train. US rapper Snoop Dogg shared a picture that said “Snoop Doge,” and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons said on Twitter, “I bought more Dogecoin. Why? Because I think it will increase. “
On February 8, 2021, Dogecoin was the tenth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization after rising 40 percent in 24 hours. On April 28, Musk announced his guest appearance on Twitter on the US comedy series Saturday Night Live, in which he referred to himself as “the Dogefather”. Since then, the price has risen almost continuously, which is also due in part to other factors, such as the inclusion of the meme currency in the Etoro trading app. Still, according to some analysts, Musk’s TV appearance, which is due to take place on May 8, could push the Dogecoin price even higher. However, it remains unclear what is behind Musk’s obsession with the meme currency.
“I occasionally joke about Dogecoin”
Although Musk’s memes and other tweets about Dogecoin have a real influence on the parody currency’s exchange rate, the billionaire seems to write them not least out of a humorous interest. In a clubhouse talk in February, Musk stated, “I make occasional jokes about Dogecoin. But that’s because Doge was made to joke about crypto investments. ”Musk described himself in the talk as a“ Bitcoin supporter ”. Which is ultimately also shown by the fact that the e-car manufacturer Tesla, which he leads, invested $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin in February – and not in Dogecoin. “The most ironic result would be if Dogecoin became the currency of the world in the future,” said Musk. According to the logic, the run on the meme currency at least supported by him would not be collateral damage, but the actual punch line.
