Dogecoin surge leaves mystery holder with $2.1bn

The owner of the world’s biggest Dogecoin cryptocurrency wallet has amassed a holding worth $2.1bn (£1.5bn) after the digital asset skyrocketed in value.

Dogecoin has surged more than 950pc since the beginning of the year from less than half a penny to more than five cents per coin as Reddit users have flocked to the joke cryptocurrency based on the meme of a smiling Shiba Inu.

Twenty eight pc of all existing Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency started in 2013 as a joke, is owned by a single account, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Speculation is now mounting that the owner is Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, following his history of promoting Dogecoin, including Twitter posts calling it “the most fun crypto” and “the people’s crypto.”

Rumours have been fuelled by the public record of transactions sent to the account. At least 20 Dogecoin transactions were made in quantities of exactly 28.061971 Dogecoin. Mr Musk was born on June 28, 1971.

He also recently said “too much concentration” is the cryptocurrency’s only real issue before saying he’d pay the biggest holders to “void their accounts.”