Dogecoin (DOGE) has gained 11% since billionaire Elon Musk said that he would continue to support and buy the cryptocurrency.
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Fast facts
- According to CoinMarketCap data, the memecoin was up more than 12% in the past 24 hours to US$0.05788 on Monday.
- Dogecoin had dropped to as low as US$0.04972 in the past seven days following a broader bear market in crypto and a lawsuit against Musk.
- Musk’s statement comes days after a complaint seeking a class action lawsuit against the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX was filed alleging manipulation in the price of Dogecoin. The two companies and Musk have been named as defendants.
- The complaint seeks US$86 billion in compensatory damages and US$172 billion in treble damages from Musk and Tesla and SpaceX, alleging they are engaged in a “Crypto Pyramid Scheme” by inflating the price of something with no fundamental value.
- The lawsuit claims Musk’s public statements have a direct effect on DOGE and that for three years, he “engaged in and profited from the manipulation of the price of Bitcoin.”
- Musk has been an influential advocate of Dogecoin since 2019, when he began tweeting about the meme-based digital tokens, later allowing the tokens to be used to purchase Tesla merchandise, which did correlate with a price surge.
- However, the relationship hasn’t been all bull markets and growth — Musk jokingly called the coin a “hustle” in a skit for the show Saturday Night Alive in May 2021, triggering a 40% crash.
- Musk had been silent about Dogecoin on Twitter recently, but his joining of the Twitter board in April also correlated with a rally in DOGE prices, with Musk offering to buy the entire social media company.
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