As Elon Musk ostensibly set Twitter free from its cage, popular meme coin Dogecoin broke out of the doghouse that is crypto winter.
The coin saw an extended rally following the social media giant's acquisition by the world’s richest man, briefly doubling in value to 14 cents per Doge earlier this week. It now sits at 11 cents as of this writing, up 94% in the past week, according to CoinGecko.
The billionaire’s outsized impact on Dogecoin is nothing new, but the coin eclipsed prices this week not seen since May. Musk has not mentioned the coin since completing his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, but has responded to tweets from Billy Markus, one of the developers behind Dogecoin, multiple times.
In the past week, Dogecoin’s total value has grown from around $8.1 billion to $15.9 billion as of this writing, surpassing coins such as Cardano and Solana, according to CoinGecko. It is now the eighth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The coin has also seen notable volume on major cryptocurrency 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, trades between stablecoin Tether and Dogecoin totaled $1.8 billion in the past 24 hours, accounting for 10% of the exchanges total trading volume. Exchanges between Dogecoin and Binance USD, the stablecoin native to the trading platform, also crossed $900 million, representing 5% of the exchanges total trading volume.
The coin is still down 84% from an all-time high of 73 cents, set in May of 2021 on the day Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, the late-night television comedy show. The coin took a 35% dive following Musk’s appearance, where he both called Dogecoin “the future of currency,” yet also referred to it as “a hustle.”
The rise in popularity of Dogecoin can be partly attributed to Musk’s multi-year relationship with the token, referenced in numerous tweets and adopted as a method of payment for some products and services Musk’s companies offer.
Some Tesla merchandise is available for purchase through the carmaker’s website using Dogecoin, and The Boring Company accepts the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for using its Las Vegas Loop. In April, Musk also floated the idea of letting Twitter users pay for its premium subscription service, Twitter Blue, using Dogecoin.
Maybe even an option to pay in Doge?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2022
Musk’s fondness for the cryptocurrency extends back all the way back to 2019, when he tweeted “Dogecoin may be my fav cryptocurrency.” Since then, he’s referenced the coin in sharing multiple memes on the platform he’s just acquired.
It’s inevitable pic.twitter.com/eBKnQm6QyF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2020
Not everyone believes that Musk has acted in good faith when 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 Musk’s deal has also impacted other dog-themed coins such as Shiba Inu and Dogechain, up 19% and 100% this week, respectively.