Elon Musk, the tech mogul, tweeted that SpaceX, like Tesla, would soon begin accepting the popular memecoin Doge for merchandise, resulting in a nearly 10 per cent increase in the token’s value.

Musk tweeted that Tesla merch can be bought using Dogecoin. He also added that SpaceX would follow suit in the near future. His tweet read,

Immediately following the tweet by the tech billionaire, the price of the meme crypto Dogecoin surged as much as 10 percent to over 9 cents, before settling to a 7.7 percent upside.

Elon Musk is an ardent supporter of Dogecoin and cryptocurrencies in general. He is also something of an influencer when it comes to the cryptocurrency ecosystem because his tweets often cause pumps and dumps in the values of cryptocurrency tokens.

This is not the first time the cryptocurrency surged after Elon Musk’s tweet. Previously, the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin’s value increased by as much as 33 per cent in December last year as a direct result of Elon Musk’s tweet that the electronic car manufacturer Tesla merchandise would be available to purchase using Dogecoin.

The cryptocurrency Dogecoin was trading up 4.17 per cent at $0.08431, with a 24-hour volume of $421,396,351 as of 10:45 a.m. IST on Monday, data from CoinMarketCap showed.

What Is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin (DOGE) is a peer-to-peer, open-source cryptocurrency. It is considered an altcoin and an almost sarcastic meme coin. Launched in December 2013, Dogecoin has the image of a Shiba Inu dog as its logo.

While it was created seemingly as a joke, Dogecoin’s blockchain still has merit. Its underlying technology is derived from Litecoin. Notable features of Dogecoin, which uses a scrypt algorithm, are its low price and unlimited supply.

Why is Dogecoin Popular?

Dogecoin, which began as a joke, has gained celebrity support from people like Elon Musk and Snoop Dog, rock musician Gene Simmon is driving up the price.
Musk expressed his interest in the coin once more in April, saying, “Doge barking at the stars.” Following Elon Musk’s tweet, a large number of people purchased large amounts of Dogecoin (DOGE), causing the price to rise from a 24-hour low of 0.062 dollars to 0.078 dollars, a 20% increase.
The key explanation for the price increase is said to be the rising value of other crypto types such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which has propelled the value of Dogecoin.
Musk tweeted a picture of a dust storm with a Shiba Inu dog face as the ‘dogecoin norm’ blowing over the ‘global financial system’ on April 18 morning. Musk described it as “inevitable.”
The DOGE run seems to be unstoppable. Now as the prices reached a new peak, the meme cryptocurrency briefly replaced the payments-focused XRP as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
A strange combination of factors, including Elon Musk’s apparent endorsement for the coin and overwhelming support from Robinhood dealers, has propelled Dogecoin into the mainstream. DOGE liquidations topped Bitcoin (BTC) at one point during the market mania, demonstrating the asset’s great demand. DOGE’s Twitter activity briefly topped that of the flagship crypto currency at the start of the year.