Elon Musk tweet stirs Dogecoin

Dogecoin soared early Friday after a tweet from supporter Tesla Chief Executive, Elon Musk, and as Coinbase said it would list the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, CNBC reports.

The price of dogecoin climbed to an intraday high of around 56 US cents at 3 a.m. eastern time, according to data from Coin Metrics. As of 4:30 a.m., dogecoin was up by 36 percent at 52 US cents per coin. It’s still down about 20 percent from a record high of nearly 67 US cents only a week ago.

Musk tweeted Thursday that he was working with dogecoin developers to improve the efficiency of transactions.

On Wednesday, Musk made a surprise announcement that his electric car firm would stop accepting bitcoin as payment due to concerns over its environmental impact.

That led to a brutal sell-off in cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin. Dogecoin had already fallen significantly after Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, in which he called the digital coin a “hustle.”

Meanwhile, crypto exchange platform Coinbase said Thursday it would offer dogecoin support in the next six to eight weeks. Many crypto traders have flocked to the zero-fee investing app Robinhood to trade the meme token; now Coinbase’s move could lead to more trading activity.

Dogecoin isn’t taken very seriously by loyal bitcoin supporters. It started in 2013 as a joke, inspired by the “Doge” meme, but has since found a growing community online. Dogecoin is now the fourth-largest crypto by market value on CoinMarketCap, worth over US$68 billion.

Financial experts warn that dogecoin is a highly speculative asset. It has stoked worries over a potential bubble in crypto markets — though some economists would say all cryptocurrencies are in a bubble.