Dogecoin: Elon Musk names himself the ‘Dogefather’ ahead of SNL appearance sending cryptocurrency soaring
ELON Musk has named himself the ‘Dogefather’ ahead of his appearance on SNL, in a tweet which appears to have sent the cryptocurrency soaring.
The price of shot up from $0.25 to $0.30 in less than 15 minutes after Musk posted a cryptic tweet reading: ‘The Dogefather"
"SNL May 8”
The spike came after a price slump last week, when the meme-inspired cryptocurrency fell after hitting an all-time high,
Supporters of the cryptocurrency used hashtags to fuel a rally, bumping up the price of dogecoin, until it eventually lost steam.
This recent spike pushes the value of the currency back towards the record highs that it experienced earlier this month.
It was announced on Saturday that Musk would be hosting Saturday Night Live next month - with Miley Cyrus as the musical guest.
The 28-year-old singer announced the news with just an image of their names on the SNL cork board.
The official Twitter account soon shared the image and added a caption of three spaceships.
Fans were shocked to learn the Tesla CEO would be headlining the long-running sketch show.
One fan wrote to SNL on Twitter: “April Fool’s Day was like three weeks ago.”
Another begged: “Guys please this better be a joke."
A third upset fan tweeted: “Imagine ruining a great season with this and thinking it’s a good idea!!!!”
Others called for the NBC show to change its mind and remove Elon from the schedule.
Musk’s recent tweet suggested that he planned to discuss dogecoin during his feature on the show next month.
While the founder reportedly does not have significant holdings of dogecoin, he has been known to post about dogecoin on Twitter, often prompting its value to increase.
The virtual “money” started as an more than seven years ago, according to CNN, but has since become a legitimate digital currency.
Jackson Palmer, an Australian marketer, made a joke about combining cryptocurrency and the Doge meme in 2013, but that joke has taken on a life of its own: its market cap is now over $17 billion.
Dogecoin is simply a with a picture of dog on it, according to CNET. That dog is the subject of an internet meme of a Shibe with an “inner monologue” featuring phrases like "so scare," "much noble," and "wow."
In January, Musk noted that his posts about dogecoin are "just meant to be jokes".
But they clearly have a real impact on the value of the cryptocurrency.
In response to his tweet, several people replied with various memes of Musk with “Doge” and with phrases like “Dogerise” and “Doge taking over the world!”
"Anything Musk tweets about shoots higher because he has such a strong following both on social media and as a businessman," Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, told in February.
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"People will literally invest in him and his ideas, and don’t care what the fundamentals are."
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Musk tweeted quite a bit in February, posting comments like, “dogecoin is the people’s crypto," "No need to be a gigachad to own,” and, “No highs, no lows, only Doge."
Following that flurry of tweets, the price of dogecoin surged more than 50 percent.
