Like Elon Musk ostensibly free twitter out of its cage, popular coin Dogecoin has emerged from the niche that is crypto winter.
The coin has seen an extended rally following the acquisition of the social media giant by the world’s richest man, briefly doubling its value to 14 cents by Doge earlier this week. It now sits at 11 cents at the time of this writing, up 94% over the past week, according to CoinGecko.
The billionaire’s outsized impact on Dogecoin is nothing new, but the coin eclipsed prices this week, something not seen since May. Musk hasn’t mentioned the coin since completing his $44 billion purchase on Twitter, but has repeatedly responded to tweets from Billy Markus, one of Dogecoin’s developers.
Over the past week, Dogecoin’s total value has risen from around $8.1 billion to $15.9 billion at the time of this writing, overtaking 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 in the last 24 hours, Dogecoin is currently the third most traded token on Coinbase, representing more than 14% of the exchange’s total trading volume.
On Binance, exchanges between stablecoin Tether and Dogecoin totaled $1.8 billion in the last 24 hours, which is 10% of the total trading volume. Trade between Dogecoin and Binance USD, the trading platform’s native stablecoin, also crossed $900 million, 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 on the day Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, the late-night TV comedy show. The coin plunged 35% after Musk’s appearance, where he both called Dogecoin “the future of money,” but also called it a “hustle.”
Dogecoin’s rise in popularity can be partly attributed to Musk’s multi-year relationship with the token, referenced in numerous tweets and adopted as a form of payment for certain products and services offered by Musk’s companies.
Some Tesla merchandise is available for purchase on the automaker’s website using Dogecoin and The Boring Company accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for the use of its Las Vegas Loop. In April, Musk too launched the idea to allow Twitter users to 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 cryptocurrency dates back to 2019, when he tweeted “Dogecoin might be my favorite cryptocurrency.” Since then, he has referenced the piece by sharing several memes on the platform he just acquired.
Not everyone believes Musk acted in good faith by espousing the coin meme. In June, a $258 billion lawsuit was filed against Musk, SpaceX and Tesla for allegedly pumping the coin.
Musk’s deal-making also impacted other dog-themed coins such as Shiba Inu and Dogechain, up 19% and 100% this week, respectively.