Dogecoin, the “joke” bitcoin rival based on the Shiba Inu doge meme, is once again the day’s best performing major cryptocurrency—with a 20% rally that left bitcoin and ethereum in the dust.
The dogecoin price shot sharply higher today, stealing the limelight from ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin—which notched a fresh all-time high.
The latest dogecoin price pump comes after Tesla
“The Dogefather,” Musk posted to Twitter, adding “SNL May 8,” referencing his planned spot hosting the long-running comedy show and sparking speculation his appearence on the show will feature dogecoin.
Earlier this month, dogecoin hit an all-time high of just over 40 cents, a 5,000% increase from its pre-pump price in late January, as the much-hyped Nasdaq
Musk, who was voted dogecoin CEO in a 2019 Twitter poll, has repeatedly spurred the dogecoin price higher in recent months. On April 1, Musk said his rocket company SpaceX would put “a literal dogecoin on the literal moon,” playing down suggestions it was an April Fool’s Day joke.
Dogecoin, which has attracted criticism for its lack of development and high token concentration among a small group of accounts, had been down by almost half from its mid-April peak ahead of Musk’s latest dogecoin Twitter post.
Meanwhile, Mark Cuban, a long-time cryptocurrency skeptic that’s softened his stance on many major tokens and blockchain projects this year amid the huge crypto bull run, talked up dogecoin on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“Overall, when someone brings up dogecoin to you and asks you if it’s a good investment, I would say it’s not the world’s best investment but it’s a whole lot better than a lottery ticket, and it’s a great way to learn and start understanding cryptocurrencies,” said Cuban, who is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team.
“And you know what? It could go up. And the second part about it is if it doesn’t go up and you want to spend it, you can buy merchandise on the Mavericks store.”
Earlier this week, Cuban revealed the Mavericks, which began accepting dogecoin as payment this year, “are on track to do 6,000 doge transactions in April.”
“Doge is the one coin that people actually use for transactions,” Cuban responded to a question on Twitter asking why he chose to back dogecoin over other cryptocurrencies. “People spend their doge and that means more businesses will start taking it.”