Dogecoin price swings again as Elon Musk ‘flirts’ with cryptocurrency

Ever wondered how memes can change the financial landscape across the globe? Well, memes have been changing our moods on the social media horizon but the launch of Dogecoin implies that memes are not ‘worthless’, as the trending cryptocurrency of the day, Dogecoin was inspired by a meme and is now being tinkered with by Elon Musk.

How Dogecoin came into being

The Dogecoin – which is now in the news – was launched back in 2013 in a non-traditional way. It is represented by the Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed of dog which stormed the internet first as a meme; remember the difference between Doge and dog is that the former is a slang term for the latter. But harking back to history reveals that the mis-spelling of Dog as Doge was first mentioned in Homestar Runner‘s puppet show in 2005. Anyhow, I don’t think that the 2005 mis-spell led to the launch of coin in 2013.

IBM software engineer Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer launched the currency. Interestingly, Markus has recently said that he had created Dogecoin in ‘like two hours’.

The co-creator, Jackson Palmer normally keeps himself low-profile, however, he was not that silent as he launched scathing criticism of tech giant Elon Musk. Palmer recently tweeted against the SpaceX boss and said : Elon Musk is and always will be a self-absorbed grifter. Not to mention that he deleted that tweet.

In a third tweet, which was also deleted, he added: “Ps. SNL episode was cringe, bro,” referring to the Saturday Night Live show hosted by Elon Musk.

Elon Musk and Dogecoin Connection

Elon Musk has been tinkering with the crypto world for too long now. However, his latest ‘flirt’ with Dogecoin is being watched with caution and care. In a recent tweet, Musk apparently described himself as the ‘Dogefather’ as he revealed hosting Saturday Night Live.

This comes as the Tesla titan announced that his company would reverse plans to accept bitcoin as payment for its cars. The reason for this shift is bitcoin’s high environmental cost. The announcement jolted the crypto world as the prices went down hours after the tweet.

Moreover, a Twitterati suggested that Tesla had dumped its Bitcoin holdings to which Musk responded with ‘indeed’.

However, the drama continued when Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla had not sold any bitcoin; this led to sharp rise in the price of Bitcoin.

Let’s get back to the Musk-Dogecoin connection in which Elon Musk seems to be posing trust in the coin in a sense that he termed it promising.

Seems, Elon Musk is testing the depth of water by firing Doge-related tweets. In a poll conducted online, Musk asked his followers whether Tesla should accept Dogecoin; an overwhelming majority answered in the affirmative.

Tesla had also confirmed in February this year that it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoins.

While Musk has asked Twitteratis to suggest him through poll whether to accept Dogecoin or not, SpaceX has already confirmed that it will launch the ‘DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon’ in 2022 and accept Dogecoin as full payment for the lunar payload.

Dogecoin Price

As we speak, Dogecoin is being traded at $0.501 after having lost its value. In the last 30 days, it gained over 30 percent of its value as per Coinbase.

Let’s see what Musk’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) did to the Dogecoin. The price of Dogecoin before the show was around $0.65, however, after Elon Musk termed it a ‘hustle’ in the SNL, it tumbled to as low as $0.416.

The nosedive was apparently perpetuated by the conversation in which Musk was asked ‘what is Dogecoin’, to which he replied, “It’s the future of currency. It’s an unstoppable financial vehicle that’s going to take over the world.”

Afterwards, Michael Che inquired , “So, it’s a hustle?”, Musk replied, “Yeah, it’s a hustle,” before laughing in his usual style.

But it seems Elon has been treading a careful path when it comes to cryptocurrency. In a video posted before SNL, Musk said people should not invest their life savings in cryptocurrency. He also signaled that there was a good chance of crypto becoming the future currency of the earth.

‘Don’t go too far on the speculation point,’ he said in clear cut terms before hoping in his vehicle.

What’s the Verdict?

I genuinely believe that the Tesla founder is testing the potential of Dogecoin and using carrot and stick policy. At one end, he whiplashed the Bitcoin and termed Dogecoin a hustle, on the other hand he termed Dogecoin to be promising.

At one end, Tesla declined to accept bitcoin as payment for its cars but on the other hand, SpaceX had a different viewpoint, apparently endorsing Dogecoin.

Though no financial move should be made by the readers relying solely on this piece, the verdict seems to be confirming that Elon Musk is in a thinking mode and actively considering Dogecoin. Nonetheless, Musk has surprised many with his thinking pattern multiple times.

So, rely on his own statement which said: people should not invest their life savings in cryptocurrency.