Meme-based cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 25% in minutes on Feb. 4 after a fresh endorsement from the world’s richest man.
DOGE in new “Elon pump”
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed DOGE/USD rebound past $0.05 per token on Thursday, edging towards new all-time highs.
Musk, who is known for name dropping Dogecoin and Bitcoin on Twitter but just days ago said that he was taking a break “for a while,” returned to post a picture of a rocket and the moon.
“Doge,” he added in a subsequent comment, with later tweet reading “Ur welcome,” accompanied by a doctored image of the Dogecoin shiba inu mascot as Simba in the Disney film, “The Lion King.”
ur welcome pic.twitter.com/e2KF57KLxb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021
Immediately afterwards, Dogecoin leapt from $0.04 to local highs of $0.058, while trade volume also surged by over 100% compared to Wednesday.
The hashtag #ThanksElon also began to trend in the United States.
Bitcoin eyes $40,000 resistance
As Cointelegraph reported, Musk had already helped fuel a Dogecoin bull run by adding to existing hype created by infamous Reddit group, r/Wallstreetbets.
In an interview with Clubhouse, he described his various previous interactions with the cryptocurrency as “jokes,” nonetheless musing that its best days could still lie ahead.
“Dogecoin is made as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies, obviously, but fate loves irony,” he summarized at the time.
Musk likewise hit the headlines after causing a Bitcoin (BTC) price spike by making it the only item in his Twitter biography. That came weeks after another characteristically backhanded compliment, in which he said that Bitcoin was “almost as BS as fiat money.”
“I had to think about it for a bit, but I do at this point think that Bitcoin is a good thing and so I am a supporter of Bitcoin, like I said — late to the party but I am a supporter of Bitcoin,” he added to Clubhouse.
Thursday saw BTC/USD stage a comeback of its own, hitting levels previously seen only briefly thanks to Musk’s actions last week.
Musk removes “Bitcoin” from Twitter bio
At the time of writing, the pair circled $38,660. At the same time, Musk appears to have removed “Bitcoin” from his profile resulting in “Elon has gone full doge” comments from the Twittersphere.
Elon has gone full doge pic.twitter.com/urQ6Q0R2tz
— Dan Held (@danheld) February 4, 2021
In a dedicated paper released this week, Blockchain Research Lab said that such social media publicity should attract further attention in the future.
“While Elon Musk is likely to be an extreme example in terms of influence via social media, there is a huge number of comparatively less influential individuals, groups or companies who communicate their opinions on cryptocurrencies via social media,” it read.